


Stranger than Witchtion

by DominusTrinus



Category: Charmed (TV)
Genre: Abandonment, Alternate Universe, Angst and Humor, Big Sisters, Brotherly Love, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family Bonding, Family Drama, Family Fluff, Family Secrets, Grief/Mourning, Guilt, Half-Siblings, Little Sisters, Memories, Pictures, Protective Siblings, Sibling Bonding, Sisters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-17
Updated: 2016-11-17
Packaged: 2018-08-31 12:53:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 23,969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8579323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DominusTrinus/pseuds/DominusTrinus
Summary: No photographs of Prue—the only thing strange in what appears to be a perfect happily ever after future Piper stumbled upon using Coop's ring. But then again, isn't it also strange that nobody has actually seen Prue's pictures since her untimely demise? Or since Paige's arrival?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Sadly, all the characters that are used and mentioned here don't belong to me. But who knows? Maybe after many years, I'll become a millionaire and buy the rights to produce Charmed. But right now, don't own anything, but the insanely crazy plot.
> 
> A/N: By now, I'm sure all you fans and even non-fans must know why there aren't any pictures, flashbacks or even a ghost of Prue Halliwell after season 3. If not, then you might've noticed the sudden absence of Prue's pictures and a few other things and found it very strange. What I find much stranger and creepy is that no one, not even the show's writers, grabbed the golden opportunity and attempted to incorporate this….umm….real-life issue into the show or a fanfic. Almost makes me believe that either it's illegal to do this or there's something out there that prevented people from doing this o.0
> 
> Anyways, creepiness aside, whether you're a fan of the sisters, big or baby Chris or Wyatt, heck even evil Wyatt, I hope you all enjoy this possibly illegal work of fiction ;-)
> 
> Timeline: Set a few hours after Forever Charmed.

Piper Halliwell wasn't insane.

 _Once_ and only for a _one_ minute, she had believed she was, courtesy of the Source of all Evil. But even without the Source's or any other demonic influence, anyone in her shoes would've doubted their sanity.

Still doubt it.

If they had witnessed, experienced—not to mention actually turned into—things she had over the last eight years, they would've checked themselves into a mental institute a long time ago.

Witches and warlocks; whitelighters and darklighters, cupids and demons of hate, fairies and gremlins, wendigos and vampires, mermaids and leprechauns, time traveling and parallel worlds, white and dark magic, yin and yang, heroes and villains…..

All of it sounded so surreal; something out of children's bedtime story crossed over with a comic book fan's supernatural fantasy, smothered with humor and adventure before being marinated in family drama.

From a grandmother memory-wiping and binding her granddaughters' _special_ gifts to protect them from evil to a forbidden love affair of a mother resulting in a long-lost half-sister, who's existence a carefully guarded secret like the family's ancestry.

And then what's family without the bundle of joys known as kids?

Meeting your son before he was conceived, only to lose him after he was born; also it'd make any mother proud that her first born son will grow up to rule the entire world….minus the being evil than the Source of all Evil part.

It was right up there with having one of your sisters as the Queen of the Underworld.

Speaking of the Queen, what's battling the forces of darkness without a little love and romance?

First with a warlock who tries to kill you and your sisters, then a ghost who has to move on to the afterlife. Next in line is your extraordinarily attractive neighbor who was unable to stand the extraordinary. And then finally, the longest running forbidden romance—a heartbreak and heartache saga with her handyman revealed to be her whitelighter turned Elder turned Avatar turned Elder again before finally being turned mortal.

Phew!

Of course after that he did get turned into a human icicle thanks to the Angel of Destiny.

And Greg, the fireman, was somewhere inbetween there too…

If it wasn't for the whole personal gain clause, Piper could've probably made millions out of the story of her life.

Even have a movie or a TV show.

Had things not gone to the dogs when magic was exposed, she probably would have by now. A show most certainly about her and her sisters.

The Charmed Ones.

Yes, she could see it now…..three sister witches…..battling the forces of evil while trying to lead normal lives.

Accompanied by a nice theme song, the opening credits of their show would begin by displaying the triquertra, the Book of Shadows, a few shots of San Francisco, then one by they would be introduced along with their powers, smiling as if fighting the forces of evil was every woman's dream since childhood.

And maybe if the show was really successful, a spin-off could follow revolving around Wyatt and Chris's lives known as the Charmed….err…Sons?

"Huh….Right…."

Whose success would ultimately lead to a swarm of squealing, giggling fan-girls, sleeping, eating, breathing outside the Halliwell Manor…forever.

And since fan-girls were mortals, vanquishing them would be out of the question, not to mention illegal.

Oh well.

Phoebe and Paige's children could have that spin-off show. Lately everything had been about her anyway.

But it will all begin with three sisters.

Why three?

Because _the_ _Power of Three will set us Free_ rhymes quite nicely.

The Book of Shadows has a nice triquetra on it, a symbol representing the power of _three_.

The _Trinus_ of the _Dominus_ _Trinus_ spell is Latin for _triple_ and _three_.

Their ancestor, Melinda Warren, prophesized the arrival of _three_ sister witches, who together would be the most powerful witches before being burned at stake during the Salem Witch Trails.

So three was a pretty important number.

Three witches.

Three sisters.

Her, Piper Halliwell being the first sister.

Phoebe Halliwell the second one.

Paige Matthews the third one.

Prue Halli—Ah! Now that was the thing.

There weren't three, but four sisters. Three and a half if you want to get technical. But for simplicity's sake, four.

Prue Halliwell, being the first. Followed by her, then Phoebe and finally Paige.

So if there were _four_ of them, why in the name of Shakti and Shiva in the very distant future did she see only _three_ and not _four_ Halliwell sisters?

….

So one was gone.

Deceased.

Not among the living anymore.

But so were Penny Halliwell and Patty Halliwell—Grams and Mom. But they were there, frozen forever in a single moment inside square photo frames alongside other family members.

All except for Prue, who was missing, for some bizarre reason yet to be explained…

"A demon…..he must've attacked the Manor and…set Prue's pictures on fire….all of them….even baby pictures. And for some odd reason, I didn't get the time to get another copy developed…for fifty whole years. Yup. That sounds right."

In a world where ridiculousness ruled.

Piper rubbed her hands tiredly over her face. "Or something did change that wasn't supposed to. We just…we just didn't notice." With a heavy sigh, she turned to the person well-versed on the perplexing subject of time travel. "Well….you're the expert on time travel. Any thoughts?"

Christopher Perry Halliwell giggled amusedly and tangled his mother's brunette hair in his chubby fingers.

"Sssh!" She quickly shushed the bubbly toddler before casting a glance toward the staircase. "Whisper! Whisper! There's no need to wake up your brother. Or your Dad and worry him…..about the possibility that Mommy might've potentially messed up something during all the time traveling. He just got back. He doesn't need the stress."

Neither did she. But _stress_ seemed to just love her to death and always found a way into her life. Good thing she had sisters to share her number one fan with.

"Aunt Phoebe….she handles stressful, reality-altering situations. A-And she's an advice columnist and we need advice." Piper leaned forward to snatch the cordless off the coffee table. "So let's ask her." She pressed speed-dial. "Let's ask Phoebe."

Chris nodded absent-mindedly as he curiously examined the fistful of his mother's hair, wondering if it tasted similar to the fuzzball he had found on the carpet or the tiny eight-legged creature Wyatt had handed him once.

After another moment of contemplation, his tiny mouth stretched open.

"Okay….alright…..it's ringing."

"Mmm…" Chris acknowledged through mouthful of chocolate-colored hair.

Definitely a distinct taste.

Someone answered the phone, but didn't speak.

Piper frowned and spoke up first: "Phoebe?"

"Mmm…..Yeah…?" came the familiar, but sleep-induced voice of Phoebe Halliwell.

"Hey. Hi. It's me. Wake up."

"Sure….five more minutes Grams….." Three seconds later, however, the sound of Phoebe hanging up greeted her ears.

"Ugh! _Phoebe_!"

Piper's growl of displeasure brought Chris's tasting session to an end.

He blinked in confusion and disappointment as he was transferred from his mother's lap and into the playpen.

Grabbing unto the netted wall of what his brother called, time-out box for babies, Chris hoisted himself to stand on his toes, and get a clear view of his agitated mother.

"Okay it's fine….it's late." She paced madly, only pausing to glimpse at the grandfather clock. "It's very late. She's tired and probably wants to get a goodnight's sleep after our….supposed battle to end all battles."

Chris's head followed her movement like a pendulum.

All his one-and-a half year old mind could process was that Mommy wanted to talk to Aunt Phoebe, but Aunt Phoebe was sleeping.

The Bay Mirror sprawled over the couch caught his eye. A huge front page picture of Phoebe Haillwell looked back at him with a slanted smile.

He gazed at his Aunt's face before returning his attention back to his upset mother.

She had finally stopped pacing and now stood still. "Coop? If you can hear me, could you please send Phoebe? It's important."

Nothing happened.

"Coop?"

Still nothing.

"I'm gonna be your sister-in-law soon so you'll be hearing my voice a lot. Better get used to it now."

Still a big load of nothing.

Right there and then, Chris decided to take matters into his own little hands.

Furrowing his small eyebrows, he concentrated all his tiny being on the sofa until blue and white orbs swirled and formed into the person his mother so desperately desired to see.

"Great. Just perfect."

Unfortunately, she was still muttering and grumbling to herself to actually _see_.

Sighing, Chris concluded he had no choice, but to reveal one of his…secrets. Wyatt had advised him it would be best to reveal such things when everyone was present, to get the maximum amount of love and attention. But right now, it was an emergency.

Bracing himself, he opened his mouth and unraveled his deepest, darkest secret:

"Mama."

The revelation bought Mommy at his side faster than he could blink. And though he wouldn't have liked anything better than to stay forever in the warm and loving embrace she currently had him enveloped in, he had a mission to fulfill.

"Y-You always said Dada a-and I was afraid—"

Chris quickly placed a palm on her lips, effectively cutting off her emotional speech.

"Chris….? W-What?"

Sighing audibly, Chris cupped her puzzled face with his chubby hands and turned it towards the sofa.

Momentarily dumbfounded, Piper uttered the first thing which came to her mind: "Phoebe is sleeping on the sofa."

"Uh-huh," he confirmed, wondering how grown-ups would fare without him.

"Did you….?"

He just shrugged indifferently. Better to pretend Uncle Coop did it than hear Wyatt calling him a peanut butter dummy.

Unfortunately, his mother possessed the power to detect lies.

"Hmm….never mind, Uncle Coop," Piper grumbled mockingly at the ceiling and smiled down tenderly at Chris.

Suddenly, it didn't matter that neither his Dad nor his Aunts witnessed him speak a new word and dote all over him. Or if Wyatt groaned, _'Chris, you dummy!'_ if he saw him right now. All of their love and affection put together couldn't compare to one appreciative smile from his Mom.

"Thank you, peanut."

The toddler tried to scowl at the nickname which his brother had maligned, but ended up blushing when he received a grateful kiss on the forehead.

One thing he had learned right now was, Wyatt was the dummy. A butter peanut and…and jelly with chocolate dummy!

Unluckily, he couldn't form a whole sentence yet to tell his big brother just that.

But one day he will.

One day….

"Well….." After one last kiss, he was deposited in the playpen again. "Time to wake up Aunt Phoebe…."

Chris didn't mind this time. It was always fun watching his Mom and aunts talking about…..things he had yet to fully understand. He could just listen to them talk, make funny faces and frantic gestures all day.

It was much better than cartoons.

He quietly smiled to himself when he noticed his mother making one of her funny faces right now at Aunt Phoebe as she tried to wake her up…..

"Phoebe? Wake up….c'mon…..Wake up….now! Now would be a good time to…. _open_ your eyes and _wake_ _up_!"

Two minutes of rib-poking, nose flicking and tickling later, the middle Halliwell baby sister finally stirred. Ever so slowly, one eye cracked open.

"Hey," Piper greeted, applying a lot of cheerfulness in her voice.

A groan followed and the eye shut again, tightly.

Piper rolled her eyes. "And a very good morning to you too."

"Oh…just…." Phoebe groaned again, like a dying animal. "We just…..we just vanquished the Triad, defeated the Ultimate Evil, saved Leo and all that is good in the world…." She trailed off, massaging her temples. "Okay maybe it was you who did most of the saving, but it hasn't even been twenty-four hours! Don't demons usually take a month or two to attack after we defeat the Big Bad?"

"Yeah well…..Charmed Ones. Evil attacking anytime anywhere part of the package," Piper stated the obvious fact. "Deal with it."

Yawning widely, Phoebe curled against the sofa, reminding Piper of Kit—when she wasn't a human. "Wake me up when you find something in the BOS."

"Boss?" Piper inquired confused.

"Book of Shadows."

"Abbreviation?"

"Caught it from future Chris and Wyatt," she explained briefly. "Well….I'll be dreaming about our wonderful perfect future if you need me."

"That's nice, you do that." Piper sweetly encouraged before dropping the bomb. "Oh and speaking of our bright and shiny, perfect future, guess who's missing from the picture? Literally."

Phoebe made no attempt to stifle another yawn. "Evil?"

"Prue."

It always surprised Piper how one name could hold the power of sucking the life and humor out of the conversation in a second.

Phoebe slowly raised herself to a sitting position, a somber expression shading her face. "Piper….." she began softly, like a mother about to tell a child about death. "She's…."

"Dead. I know that."

Prue was dead. Just like Mom and Grams. A reminder wasn't necessary every time her name popped up.

"I meant her physical memory, a picture…any evidence that we have—used to have another sister."

Phoebe looked fully awake now. "What do you mean?"

"In the future where Leo and I were…well senior citizens and playing scrabble, no pictures of Prue. Zilch. Nada."

Phoebe frowned, clearly confused like she had been before. Though unlike Phoebe, she didn't have the luxury to contemplate over the weirdness of the situation until everything was normal again.

"That…no…that just…..can't be right."

"I agree, but apparently in the future, the person who's been with us since we opened our eyes doesn't seem worthy enough to be among all the other past and future Halliwells. Oh…but why stop there? Let's also make sure everyone believes the Charmed Ones have always been Piper, Phoebe and Paige. As if Prue never—"

"No," Phoebe interrupted quickly, not wanting to even consider the horrible thought. "Piper, there could be a million and one reasons—"

"Alright. I told you one, now you tell me a million."

"Uh….…." Phoebe obviously didn't expect to brainstorm the next second. "Okay…." She began carefully, "Prue's pictures…..could've been somewhere else…..some other room. It's not like you had the time to check the whole house."

"Hmm…..yeah. Prue is such a disgrace to the Halliwell family. Makes sense to lock her in the basement or the farthest corner of the attic where no one could ever see her. Just remove every trace of her from plain sight."

Piper knew she was being the queen of cynical. Whoever said sharing a problem made you feel better deserved to be vanquished. She only felt angrier. And it was either venting out her anger through direct means or the usual indirect one: sarcasm.

"Phoebe, every family member was in plain sight. Everyone except our big sister."

"Or something might've happened," Phoebe finally admitted. "Some demon attack and…and her pictures got caught in the crossfire."

An outrageous theory she had debunked earlier.

" _All_ of her pictures? Even negatives? A-And those on the computer? Not even one left that we could hang on the wall? C'mon!"

"Well….the Manor might've…..blown up when our future generation were fighting the Ultimate Evil of their time. And instead of going back in time to fix everything, they….rebuilt it."

Piper scoffed.

Time travel. She was beginning to loathe it more and more.

"Right….I'm sure in the future they found way to preserve humans, let alone pictures."

"Okay so…uh…..maybe it's not demonic or evil. Hmm….Cleaners?"

"Unless Prue brought a dragon to life, highly unlikely."

And Prue had already paid a very high price for exposure of magic.

"Umm….Avatars?"

"If they had control over the world in the future. Which they didn't."

"Abbey the stalker went to the future and stole them?"

The light-hearted suggestion didn't amuse her one bit. "Any other theories?"

"Oh! Oh!" Phoebe exclaimed suddenly. "Our kids! O-Or grandkids. They did something."

Piper arched an eyebrow, highly skeptical, but undeniably intrigued. "You're blaming our grandkids for the disappearance of Prue's pictures?"

"Not on purpose of course!" she clarified defensively. "A-An accident. A magical accident. Either their powers….or a spell backfiring or potion." She visibly winced. "Or all of the above."

Her mind recalled a spell backfire a year ago, bringing a twenty-five year old Wyatt from the future.

The memory that stuck with her was how he simultaneously destroyed three demons—along with half of the attic—just by holding up his hands.

However, in the future beyond that, the house appeared like it hadn't seen a demon attack or magical accidents in years.

"No. Vanquishing Prue to another dimension _is_ an accident. Strategically wiping all of her pictures from every nook and cranny—that's a calculated attack."

"It's fifty years later. Today's deliberate could be tomorrow's accident." Phoebe's brows creased as she concentrated on the issue deeply. "And maybe _the_ _accident_ made you hide them from plain sight? Hmm….."

"Phoebe, wake up and smell common sense! I would never do that! Never!"

Prudence Halliwell belonged on the wall with all the other Halliwells. Not the attic or basement. She was their sister, not some ancient ancestor.

"Let's see…" Phoebe was on a completely different planet however. "If Wyatt, Chris and Melinda makes three, the twins and Henry Junior another three from Paige's side, and then my three girls…..and if they all have three kids then that would make a total of…..t-that would make….a total of… _whoa_! T-Twenty-seven! Twenty-seven grandkids!" She breathed in amazement. "Magical accidents are bound to happen!"

Piper's mind reeled with the onslaught of future information. "W-what…how…when?"

"Err…." Phoebe smiled guiltily. "Inbetween family group hugs we shared?"

Piper only shook her head.

No wonder Future Chris wasn't so keen on sharing a hug with Phoebe and literally had to pry her off Wyatt's future version. Unlike Chris, Wyatt didn't care about future consequences and was more than happy to let things slip like, _Uncle_ Coop.

"Did I mention you finally get your dream restaurant?" Phoebe added as a bribe. With a huge grin, she turned her focus toward her nephew. "And guess who's got something special planned there tonight…."

Chris made a delighted noise.

Phoebe, the insane baby-fanatic she was, couldn't resist and plucked him out of the playpen and into her arms.

"She's going to say yes! Despite the warlock attack ruining your plans. But the important thing is, a _yes_!"

Chris cooed happily, reaching out to grab a lock of her hair, wondering whether a different hair color also meant different taste.

"Oh that's not all mister." Phoebe adopted a mock stern voice. "We also need to have a nice long talk about you and Wyatt scaring your little sister's boyfriends away."

"Phoebe?" Piper clenched her fists, her patience wavering at the inability to decipher the issue and Phoebe being no help at all. "Can we please focus on the present crisis?"

Phoebe let out a frustrated sigh as she settled the sunny baby Chris next to her. "That's the thing. It's not a _present_ crisis. It would occur in the future. A very…very distant future. And I'm not sure if it should even be categorized as a crisis. They're just pictures."

"Just pictures?" Piper repeated flatly, feeling a sense of betrayal. Here she was pouring her heart out, fearing the worst and hoping for some support and Phoebe didn't even care.

"Piper…." Phoebe started, obviously realizing her Freudian slip a little too late. "I didn't mean it like that….."

"It certainly sounded like it."

"It's just that…..How old were we in the future? Eighty going on…..death's doorstep? It really doesn't matter if Phoebe the third or Paige the second destroyed them by accident. Pictures really don't seem important when we're about to meet her in spirit."

"What if it's not just the pictures?"

A flicker of fear crossed Phoebe's face only to be replaced by unwavering determination. "Then I'm pretty sure everyone is working hard in the future as we speak to solve the…..crisis."

"I don't feel so reassured." Piper crossed her arms over her chest. She continued her pacing, musing about her future self. "How could I play demon scrabble with Leo without glasses and not notice someone so significant missing?"

"Umm…." The psychic's eyes shifted uneasily while her fingers played with Chris's hair. "You're stressing so much right now and if you stressed so much at _that_ age….and with Grams having a heart condition too, wouldn't be a surprise the kids did something to….uh…you know, make sure Gramama Piper didn't have a stroke."

And…..that was it.

Piper stomped to a halt. "Get Coop's ring," she ordered.

"Wha—Why?" Phoebe seemed afraid to hear the answer. "What…what are you planning on doing?"

"Go to the future first. Find out what kind of magical mess would cause this second." She listed on her fingers. " _Ground_ our future generation third," she spoke through gritted teeth. "Or tell our future selves so that they can ground our descendants for this mess. Then we come back and make sure it never happens. What do you think? Nice plan?"

After approximately ten seconds, she received feedback. "Are you crazy?"

"No. Our kids or grandkids are…..thinking they could hide this from us forever. Now …your future husband's ring, if you don't mind."

Her request fell on deaf ears.

"Y-You want us to go barging into the future, to tell our kids o-or….grandkids to be more careful with Prue's pics? Tell our future selves what they did, _if_ they did so that they could snap at them to fix it?" Phoebe let out a sharp breath and collapsed against the sofa. "Oh boy…." She blocked Piper's pacing path and reached out to touch her sister's forehead. "Grams?" She narrowed her eyes at Piper, scrutinizing her. "Is that you in there?"

Piper swatted her hand away. "What?"

" _What_? Besides future consequences? Trust me when I say this sis…you're going to royally, _royally_ piss off the next generation. Especially if it turns out to be not their fault at all. What then? What would happen then?"

" _Then I would know it was me_!"

The words decimated every noise in the room. Even the grandfather clock's ticking seemed to stop.

"You?" Phoebe finally questioned, disbelief written across her face.

"Me. And time travel."

"Coop took care of all that."

Piper shook her head. Phoebe didn't get it. "Coop just made sure Grams and Mom didn't remember. That's all he did."

"So there won't be any future consequences."

"Future consequences?" A bitter laugh escaped her lips. "Phoebe I…..I-I took Mom from one past…a-and then I accidentally ended up in the future where _I_ was the Grams along with Mom…..from the past. And then we picked Grams from another past and went to change another past…." Her head spun as she recapped her journey. "And then again when Dumain stole Coop's ring and Wyatt's powers had disappeared and….you know the rest…."

"Yeah….." Phoebe blinked, dazed. "And it was confusing the last time you told me too."

Piper ignored the comment and continued, "I may not be an expert on time travel, but if Einstein was alive right now, he would've pulled out his brain and set it on fire if I asked him about the consequences of a time traveling trip like that."

"Uh…..first of all, Einstein was a super-genius not a witch. Umm…" Phoebe bit her lips, concern etching her features. "And if you asked him to explain how your time traveling trip is related to the disappearance of Prue's pictures…..he would lose his mind. Completely."

Piper didn't know if it was sixth sense, sisterly bond, but she could clearly make-out Phoebe's afterthought.

 _Kind of like you're losing it right now_.

The last thing she needed right now was a sister with a degree in Psychology thinking she was insane. But the second last thing she wanted was to be the reason behind Prue's photographs mysterious disappearance.

Hopefully just photographs.

"He's a super-genius. He'll figure out a connection and make sense of everything. You think we can summon his ghost?"

"He'll more likely find evidence of you leaving Leo for Barbaras and having a litter of fear-inducing baby demons!" Phoebe snapped.

It was obvious being dragged out of sleep and Piper's stubbornness to feel responsible for an incident which didn't and would never occur were affecting her normally optimistic persona.

"I-It makes much more sense than….what you're suggesting you did….Okay…." She briefly closed her eyes, and exhaled. "Remember when you told me to tell you when you're obsessing?"

"Well it runs in the family!" Piper deflected, her temper rising at Phoebe's stubbornness to believe everything and everyone else in the world(including their kids and grandkids) could be the culprit, but not her own sister. "And who was obsessing about finding a husband a few months ago?"

"A husband! A daughter. Not Prue!" Phoebe's eyes literally pleaded her not to pursue this obsession. "Never Prue," she finished softly. _Never turns out well_. _Let it go. Piper.….please just let it go._

"When you find out you're responsible for something bad happening to your sister, you tend to obsesses about it a lot and _can't_ let it go!" Anger was taking the front seat to sarcasm now.

"You are _not_ and will never be responsible for anything bad happening to Prue!" Phoebe's stated vehemently, her voice matching Piper's octave.

"I'll know for sure once your husband-to-be gives me his damn ring! Coop!" Piper shouted furiously. "Heart-orb your cupid ass over here!"

"Coop's ring works through love, not anger."

"Oh gee really? Why don't you do me a favor and ask Coop to appear so I could start feeling all lovey dovey?"

Phoebe appeared like she had prepared a retort, but instead she lectured: "There's no guarantee you'll end up exactly where you want to. A-And what if something happens to the ring? O-Or you need the Power of Three to get back here?"

"I took that risk for you and Paige. And I'll do the same for Prue." She then conveniently added, "even if it's just her pictures that need saving. As for the Power of Three….. nine kids and twenty-seven grandkids, right?"

By that point, Piper fully expected Phoebe to snap.

"Saving her pictures won't bring her back."

The sad true fact combined with Phoebe's sympathetic expression was the breaking point for her instead.

Her hands flicked forward, a reflexive action her body had adopted in cases of intense anger. The object of her anger—which usually always had been Leo—would freeze, while she took the time to cool down.

Unfortunately in the heat of anger, her rational mind seemed to have forgotten the little flaw of her freezing powers.

Phoebe folded her arms across her chest and fixed her with a glare, all her sisterly concern evaporating. "Are we forgetting something?"

An array of vicious retorts made their way to the tip of Piper's tongue, but she swallowed them before they slipped out.

The familiar green eyes of Leo Wyatt stared at them, anxiety and fear shining in the tiny orbs. The cheerful disposition displayed by him not mere minutes ago had vanished completely. …..

 _Oh Chris,_ Piper lamented inwardly. _I'm so sorry._

Phoebe had already beaten her in the apology department. "Hey cutie….Don't frown like that, you'll get worry lines." She bent to Chris's eye-level and smiled at him, snuffing his nose. "Besides its grown-ups job to worry. And you don't qualify as a grown-up yet, do you?"

Only a small whimper escaped.

"We…we were really loud, huh?" Phoebe asked in a remorse-filled tone.

Reluctantly, Chris nodded.

"Well…..Me and your Mommy were just having a loud….sisterly chat," she provided. "You know, like you had with Wyatt over the fire truck last week? And the week before that it was Wuvey? Remember?"

"Mmm-Hmm…" Chris quietly acknowledged, nervously sucking on his fist.

"Same with us sisters. We yell, we shout, we bite and scratch, pull each others hair over silly little things. Okay maybe not bite and scratch anymore." The witch rephrased, seeing the child's eyes grow huge. "And for the record, I never bit your Mommy, just your Aunt Pru—The point is, it's completely normal. Nothing to worry about. I love Piper and she loves me, and if we do….rarely yell and be mean to each other, it's alright I still love her and she still loves me. Isn't that right, Piper?"

Chris exchanged a look with Piper, seeking reassurance for his aunt's words.

"We don't want him becoming a neurotic little worry wart like _Perry Halliwell_ , now do we?" Phoebe emphasized the name, desperately hoping she would take the cue. "Huh Piper?"

Neurotic.

The word triggered the creation of another theory.

Her actions right now…her obsessive, excessive, neurotic actions and spoken words…viewed live by her younger son and obviously not liked at all. And when there's something you don't like, you wish it would stop.

And with an older brother like Wyatt Matthew Halliwell, that wish wasn't far from becoming a reality.

From switching his parents' powers to halt their constant bickering to shrinking them to doll-size and imprisoning them in the dollhouse for their protection, three-year old Wyatt was well-experienced in the area of resolving domestic conflicts.

And if magically erasing Aunt Prue's pictures so that Mommy and Aunt Phoebe wouldn't worry anymore about her was the solution according to Wyatt, then shockingly, she'll understand.

If she had a brother or sister like Wyatt, she would've done the same thing: wish Dad never had to leave and had gotten along with Grams….wish Mom and Dad stayed together, Mom never died, neither did Prue…..

Piper closed her eyes and slowly exhaled.

Well, Chris didn't need to run to his brother. She wouldn't ever do anything like that to make him wish that ever again.

Phoebe was right.

She had to let it go.

For Chris's sake. For Phoebe's sake. For everyone's sake.

It was the next generation's job to handle this problem. Not theirs. It was over for them. Their happily ever after was now.

Leo was back. Phoebe and Paige were alive. She had two wonderful sons.

What more could she ask for?

"Right….." Piper slowly sunk down next to Chris. Lightly brushing his dark hair, she gave her anxious son an assuring smile. "Everything's fine honey. Aunt Phoebe and I were.…..just talking. And I'm sorry we got a little noisy."

"Ah! See? Your Mom says everything's alright." Phoebe gestured. "Now turn that frown upside down." She wiggled her fingers toward him. "Uh-oh...you see that? The tickling fingers don't like sad faces….."

Chris squealed in laughter as he unsuccessfully tried to push her hands away.

Grinning widely, Phoebe faced Piper, who noticed the mirth didn't quite reach her eyes. "So Mommy…..is everything alright?"

It took awhile, but Piper slowly nodded.

"And…are you alright?"

"Yeah."

"If…..if you're worried you…..accidentally…..erased Prue from existence or something, then you wouldn't be here worrying about erasing her from existence. We wouldn't even know who she was right now."

"I know."

Anger and fear made people think illogical things. Add Prue as the reason behind those two strong emotions and you've made a perfect cocktail to trigger irrational actions.

"And if you really believe…..all the time traveling could've done this, then wouldn't it be wise to postpone any further time trips? We can't risk accidentally changing the outcome of the final battle. Again."

 _Oh my God…_ Piper mentally berated herself and felt utterly grateful Phoebe had stopped her. "Y-Yes. You're right."

"And who's to say we haven't already been to the future and back? Our memories could've been erased. Just like we had to do with Mom and Grams."

If that was true, then Piper would be experiencing a warm and fuzzy feeling instead of a nagging and foreboding sensation that something was terribly wrong with the whole universe.

"And you're _so_ adorable. I swear you would win first place in a baby contest." Phoebe spoke in her baby voice, to keep the façade of everything is alright infront of Chris.

"He most certainly will," Piper agreed, with a soft smile, watching Chris squirm and laugh under Phoebe's tickling fingers.

It always amazed her how a mere glimpse of her sons could always melt away the most awful feelings.

"So…..that means something would happen in the future which would cause this….."

"Uh-huh," Piper concurred distractedly, using the sound of Chris's laughter to vanquish the remaining feeling of doom and gloom.

"But not necessarily something bad. It could be something as simple as—"

"Our kids or grandkids doing a vanquishing spell and it backfiring and accidentally sucking all of Prue's photographs into a vortex," Piper concluded in one breath. "Got it."

"And if it's not just the pictures….."

"Then we should trust the children and our children's children to be able to deal with the crisis themselves." Piper felt like a kindergarten kid repeating what she had been taught in class. "Not interfere."

"Right. And if they need help, we're just a time travel away."

"Yes we are."

"And if something goes wrong with time itself, I'll be the first one to know. Either through déjà vu or the usual premonition about the future. Yes siree, the moment Phoebe Halliwell gets hit with feelings of déjà vu or a premonition, we'll know foul play is at hand with time."

"You can stop now, Phoebe." Piper put her sister's worries at ease. "I'm not going to try anything stupid."

"I don't know what you're talking about. But….." She trailed off to blow a raspberry against Chris's cheek, enticing further bouts of laughter. "Great!"

"I….I was probably at the wrong place and at the wrong time," Piper assumed, just to convince herself further.

"Well there you go!" Phoebe clapped her hands together, giving Chris a second to relax. "The best theory yet. I bet Phoebe the third is out there right now, getting another copy of her great grand-aunt Prue's pics."

"And probably getting distracted by a cute boy too," Piper mumbled dryly.

"You know teenagers." Phoebe chuckled, but abruptly stopped. "It's…..really not funny when you're the grandma." She visibly winced. "Think I'm starting to understand how Grams felt." She leaned close to Chris's ear and whispered conspiringly. "Grow-up soon so we can make plans together."

Piper could've sworn Chris's eyes twinkled mischievously in agreement.

"Hmm….But right now, why don't you go back to bed little guy?"

Chris shook his head, adamantly.

"Why?" Phoebe inquired. "Not sleepy?"

He only shifted restlessly, casting a glance at Piper.

"Oh…Aww…..that's so sweet," Phoebe gushed, understandingly.

"Yeah, a habit he inherited from Leo."

A tiny part of her felt glad she had _accidentally_ dropped a little bit sleeping potion in Leo's midnight snack. For a day atleast, her husband deserved to be treated like a king; a king who didn't need to be kept awake due to the magical problems of his queen.

Obviously, he would discover this in the morning—or afternoon since the potion was a bit strong—and confront her. But she would swallow her pride and apologize for her actions when the time comes. They would kiss, make-up and live happily ever as the future proved.

Right now however, someone else deserved an apology.

"Umm…Pheebs?"

"Yup?"

"I'm….I'm sorry."

"For what?"

Piper's eyebrow shot up. "For dragging you out of bed, overreacting, yelling at you…..trying to freeze yo—"

"Freeze? Really? I thought you were aiming for fire power." Even if the quip meant no harm, Piper still felt miserable.

"Aww…..come here….." Phoebe threw her arms around Piper, smothering her with a hug. "You know I can't ever hold a grudge against my favorite sister in the whole wide world."

"Right….." Piper squirmed in the affectionate, yet suffocating embrace. "I bet you say that to all your other sisters too."

"Nah. Just the sis who cooks for me, does my laundry….will let me live off her if I'm suddenly unemployed and….won't ever get mad even if I borrow and break something important of hers."

"D-Did you use _break_ and _important_ in the same sentence?"

As usual, her question remained unanswered.

"Did I mention how quickly we sisters forgive, forget, kiss and make-up too?" Phoebe told Chris. "Which reminds me."

"Phoebe….." Piper's warning went unheeded and her cheek was showered with kisses. " _Phoebe_!"

Chris giggled madly, losing his balance and falling on his back.

Piper's heart lurched, afraid he would tumble down the sofa next, giggling. "One more giggle mister and this is how you'll be apologizing to your brother in the future for the rest of your life!"

Baby laughter immediately seized.

Chris made a gagging sound, before his face contorted into a scowl. When he put his hands on his hips and fixed them with a glare, Piper's resolve crumbled and she burst into laughter.

"Piper….shush!" Phoebe snickered. "We don't want to be sent to our beds without supper."

Flustered by their reactions, Chris hid his face behind a sofa cushion.

"C-Chris…..I-I'm sorry…." Piper struggled to recover from the sudden grip of laughter. "I-It's just…..w-where did you learn to do that?"

After seeing a perfect imitation of Grams scolding stance on Chris's chubby face, it was hard to keep a straight-face.

"You don't think she got reincarnated do you?"

The wisecrack remark earned Phoebe an elbow in the ribs. Instead of retaliating, her eyes clamped shut, while her hold tightened around Piper's hand.

Piper inhaled sharply, clenching her sister's hand as she waited for the premonition to pass. She bit back a yelp of pain as Phoebe's fingers practically dug into her palm.

This was it.

The premonition which signaled something was terribly wrong in the future.

Something which involved Prue somehow.

Would they find a spell in the Book like the last time—seven years ago to be exact—and possess their future bodies?

Their…eighty year old bodies?

Piper suppressed a shudder.

Should they use Coop's ring again? Or create their own spell which hopefully will open a portal to the future and not a parallel world?

Perhaps they might be summoned by one of their kids? Like she accidentally summoned Wyatt from the future? And Phoebe simultaneously summoned a twelve year old and a very old version of herself from both past and future?

And when everything would be over, will they remember? Or would the adult versions of their kids make them forget?

And Prue….will…will they finally be able to see her?

Her million miles a second racing thoughts came to a halt when Phoebe's eyes fluttered open.

"What did you see?"

"You …." Phoebe shook the after-effects of the premonition. "And…Leo. A-And Mom…..wow….so that's what 2050 looks like…..."

Piper hurled a vicious glare at the ceiling, highly tempted to raise her hands and flip the bird at whoever sent Phoebe visions.

"I-I just saw Wyatt's and Chris's future. But seeing beyond that ….." Phoebe breathed amazed, struggling for words, "….t-that's…..that's…"

"Great," Piper muttered unenthusiastically.

"Great. Exactly! You and Leo were so adorable playing demon scrabble."

"That's nice Phoebe."

"A-And it's weird seeing Mom with the Grams version of you. But wonderful at the same time."

"Okay."

"And you don't look bad for an eighty year old. But Leo….."

"Hmm."

"And…you were expecting another premonition?"

Piper huffed and let her head fall back. "Yeah, one where we all get married and have three sets of kids and our children also have three sets of kids." She grew serious. "Did it…..seem like anything was wrong? Anything at all?"

"Nope."

"Nothing sinister….or evil?"

"Not even a bad vibe."

"Maybe you should try again." Piper clasped Phoebe's hands in hers, hoping to trigger another premonition.

"Piper….." Phoebe interrupted calmly, wiggling her hands free. "You know the best way to get over an obsession?"

"No," she replied in an uninterested tone. "And I'm not obsessed."

"Get a new one."

Another obsession? Pretty much doubted it. "Like what?"

"Melinda."

Amazingly, Piper managed to pull an excellent poker face. "Melinda Warren? Our ancestor?"

"Melinda Halliwell, your daughter."

Piper avoided eye-contact. "Oh, you're referring to one of the baby names we decided for Wyatt? When we thought he was going to be a she?"

"Uh…hello? Weren't you paying attention when I said Wyatt and Chris were ruining their _little sister's_ romantic relationships?"

"Unless it's an innocent which needs saving, I tend to listen to any future information with one ear and throw it out of the other."

"She exists. She's real. This time," Phoebe insisted. "And definitely not a little girl anymore."

"Uh-huh….." Piper looked down at her feet, hoping her long hair would conceal any emotion her face couldn't. "That's why we didn't see her today with her brothers. She inherited the power of invisibility."

"She…..probably wanted to come but her overly protective brothers must've….done something," Phoebe reasoned. "I'm….I'm pretty sure there are many theories to explain that too."

Luckily, the strange 2050 future overruled any ache caused by her daughter not visiting. And Phoebe's premonition only managed to stir up the obsession she had promised herself to forget. She quickly tried a different forgetting strategy.

"So, who's this girl Chr—Perry," Piper quickly rephrased when Chris peered at her curiously, "is marrying again?"

Even if the future suddenly changed again, atleast she'll have a daughter-in-law to look forward to. Along with a house full of grandkids.

And thankfully, Phoebe respected enough not to delve deeper into the Melinda subject.

"Bianca."

Piper almost toppled off the sofa. "B-Bianca!"

"Yeah." Phoebe didn't appear affected. "I thought it was really obvious." She smiled. "So great they found each other again in the new future. And…." On catching Piper's shocked look, she sighed. "Now what's the matter?"

"W-What's the matter?" Piper sputtered. "Look at him…" She motioned to Chris, who quickly dropped the sofa cushion he had been chewing on and looked away guiltily. "He's barely two. And the last time we checked, little Bianca had been four years old. And that was two years ago, which now makes her six! I-It's….it's practically robbing the cradle!"

Phoebe rolled her eyes. "Honey, didn't you marry the guy who's old enough to be our grandfather?"

" _My guy_ is—was a whitelighter." Piper pinched the bridge of her nose, certain she would have this conversation with Chris twenty years later. " _She_ belongs to a coven of assassin witches, tried to kill him, stripped away his powers and then dragged him back to the—" Realization dawned upon her. "Future."

Phoebe groaned. "Don't even go there….."

"G-Go where?"

"Future in-laws. Specifically Bianca. Having something to do with Prue's pictures."

"No. Don't…don't be ridiculous!" Piper tried to feign nonchalance. "Why would Bianca do something so…so crazy? U-Unless, we have a very strained mother and daughter-in-law relationship in the future. A-And the only reason that would happen is if there's a strong reason to believe something is very wrong…with her." A thought occurred to her. "Who's Wyatt marrying again?"

"That's it." Phoebe stood up, grabbed a notepad and pen from the table and started to shuffle towards the kitchen.

"What are you doing?"

"Making coffee for me and a memory spell for you."

" _What_? Why?"

"There's a reason I received the power to see the future and you didn't. _This_ is why."

"And your solution is to make me forget?" Piper asked, incredulously and angrily.

Phoebe froze in her tracks. "Or it…could also be the problem we're trying to avoid….." She wet her lips nervously. "Umm…On a scale of one to hundred, how many times have our spells not worked the way they were supposed to?"

"A hundred and one."

Tentatively, Phoebe laid the notepad next to the vase on the roundtable, as if it was a live grenade. "Okay….."

Her gaze connected with Piper's and she instinctively knew her sister had tangled herself in the same web of paranoia she had just escaped from moments ago.

One thing was certain, a memory spell was required for both of them.

If it didn't accidentally backfire.

"This…this is crazy." Phoebe frantically ran a hand through her hair. "W-We can't live worrying all the time whether the next spell, potion, or vanquish would…." She shook her head furiously. "Neither should our kids feel like this." She clenched her fists. "I'm putting an end to this right now."

"How?" What if using a spell to fix this actually is responsible? "Without magic? How?"

"The mortal way I guess!" Phoebe replied. "Make a million copies of Prue's photos. Put few in a secure vault, bury some in the backyard, upload the rest on our Facebook and Twitter accounts. Tell Paige to do the same—"

"Facebook?" Piper could only wonder. "Twitter?"

Phoebe waved her hand airily. "Just soon-to-be really addicting—"

Her ranting suddenly ceased.

"What? Addicting what?" Piper asked frantically. "Phoebe?"

No reply.

But something on the staircase wall had captured her sister's undivided attention.

"Pheebs?" Piper tried again. "Are you alright?"

Phoebe quickly scaled the stairs and stopped before the last photograph.

"This picture…." She removed the framed image and held it up for Piper to see.

It featured her, Phoebe with Paige in the middle on the couch. Being a first time witch, Paige beamed at the camera. After three years as witches and suffering huge losses, she and Phoebe could only offer small smiles.

"What about it?"

"You said you saw a picture of only three of us. This was it, right?"

Puzzled, she nodded. "Yes. Why?"

"It's…..it's here right now. It was also there when I got premonitions off Wyatt. And few off Chris toda—yesterday. A-And…it would still be here, in the exact same spot, fifty years later."

"Wow….." Piper made no attempt to mask the sarcasm. "One picture we don't have to worry about getting destroyed or accidentally vanquished."

"Yeah….." A trance-like expression covered Phoebe's face. "And…there weren't any of Prue's…"

"Yes. Not with us," Piper verified. "Or without us."

Phoebe chewed her lip thoughtfully and sat down on the steps. "Uh-huh."

Piper could clearly visualize the wheels in Phoebe's head spinning, forming an idea. Yet having no clue as to what it was.

"We're in the past."

"Phoebe." Piper was now a bit concerned about Phoebe's mental well-being. "We're in the present."

"Present for us, but past for them."

"Them?"

"Our children. The future generation."

"Alright, okay. We're in their past…so what?"

"Lucky us, right? Being able to influence the future with whatever we do right now?"

" _And_?" Piper urged, waiting edgily for the dramatic reveal.

Excitement literally poured out of Phoebe, who slowly rose to her feet. "I think it's about time there's a picture of all four of us."

It took thirty seconds to process the response.

"Four? Of—huh?"

"Us! You, me, Prue, Paige together!" Phoebe stated as it was the most obvious thing. "Four of us! All four Halliwell sisters!"

"I know what you mean!" Piper snapped irritated as the hyper-active Phoebe came stampeding down the stairs and reclaimed her spot on the sofa. "That's…that's kind of hard. Not to mention _impossible_ right now. And exactly _why_ do we need a picture of four of us again?"

More importantly, how do they even get a picture of all four of them together?

"Anything's possible," Phoebe said mysteriously, answering only half of her question. "With a little bit of magic."

"Personal gain? Consequences ring a bell?" Along with a zillion other reasons, but most pressing of all, they couldn't summon Prue for a photo session.

"I'm going to use a different kind of magic." Phoebe closed her eyes, visibly relaxed herself and held out her hands in prayer.

"There's just white and dark magic. So unless you're planning on going evil—"

In a flash of pink, a laptop materialized in Phoebe's hands.

"Thank you," Phoebe whispered sincerely, to Piper could assume Coop, and flipped open the portable computer. "Now all I need are my…"

The twinkling of orbs sounded and Chris held her spectacles.

"Hmm….." Phoebe uttered impressed. "Looks like Coop isn't the perfect man in the world after all." She bent her head down to let Chris slip on the glasses. "Somebody is making it pretty hard for me not to play the favorite nephew gig…" She winked, making Chris blush before returning to—whatever she was planning to do.

"What…what are you doing?" Piper asked, curious and worried. Mostly worried.

"What every magazine on this planet does all the time. Photoshop."

Piper's mouth groped for the appropriate words to communicate her reaction.

"Hello Paige," Phoebe sang, clicking open an image of their grinning half-sister, oblivious to the reactions of her older sister.

"P-Photoshop?" Piper asked to confirm she had heard wrong.

"Mmm-Hmm."

"Photoshop as in taking someone else's head and sticking it on someone else's body?"

"Yup. Except this would be cutting a sis out of one pic and putting her in with the rest of her sisters in another. And one plus three effectively makes four."

"Y-You're….you're…..you're….."

Crazy.

Insane.

And related synonymous of those words flashed through Piper's mind.

"…going to _photoshop_ Prue in with the rest of us?"

"Wish I could, but can't seem to find the right….pose. Hmm…..I think I'm going to photoshop Paige in with the rest of us."

At the speed Phoebe was zipping through Prue's images, Piper was shocked she even caught a glimpse of Prue's hair to come to that decision. If she wasn't still deeply affected by the absurdity of the idea, she would've pondered more about it….

"That's….you know…..brilliant. Maybe after that, you can photoshop Prue with her arm around Paige and then put Chris and Wyatt on her lap," Piper suggested sarcastically.

"You know that's a really good idea," Phoebe agreed absent-mindedly. "By the way can you get a photo of Prue with us? Think I found the perfect picture of Paige to cut her out off. Oh and if you want any nip and tuck done to your face or body…you better tell me now. Hmm….What about that scar above your eyebrow—"

"Phoebe!" Piper stamped her foot down. " _Phoebe_!"

"What? What?" A highly annoyed Phoebe snapped back. "What is it?"

"Do the words, _misleading, deception….lie_ mean anything to you?"

"Lie?" Phoebe scoffed. "What's misleading about a picture of all the four Halliwell sisters together?"

Piper could only gawk incredulously at her young sibling.

Did she seriously just ask that?

"I have _three_ sisters. _Three_ and _me_ equals _four_. A picture of me with only _two_ of my sisters would make people think I always had only two sisters and not three."

Well since Phoebe put it _that_ way, what really could be misleading about a picture of her along with her three sisters?

It would be okay to ignore the little detail of Prue never having met Paige? Or Paige never meeting Prue? They probably might've never even known of Paige's existence if Prue had been alive. And it would've always been just Phoebe and her two sisters, making a total of three.

'But the number is still three.' The nagging voice which everyone possessed, but ignored most of the time, pointed out. 'Because three years after their destiny as Charmed Ones was revealed, one of them tragically met their demise.'

She pushed it away and concentrated on what her sister was saying.

"…And in a house under constant attack by demons and its occupants blessed with magical powers, isn't it strange for an object, like let say a certain photograph to stay in the exact same spot for fifty whole years? And miraculously in a good condition?"

"I-If magic was involved, not strange at all," replied Piper, trying to wrap her brain around everything.

"Yes, magic. Perhaps magically protected, like the Book of Shadows? Or by some spell devised by our super-smart, super-intelligent kids?"

"But…..why go to all that trouble for a picture?"

"Because it's a picture of the Charmed Ones…the most powerful good witches who ever walked the Earth," Phoebe indicated, with a hint of pride. "And I don't like to brag, but pretty good-looking too. And looks like the cosmos want the Charmed Ones to be remembered for all eternity or obviously there would've been consequences."

That…oddly made sense. And she could vaguely recall the picture of her, Phoebe and Paige had indeed survived the explosion.

"And how does _photoshopping_ Paige fits in with all this?"

Phoebe grinned so widely, Piper was surprised the corners of her mouth didn't slip off her cheeks. "Well….if a photograph of the Charmed Ones is so sacred that it's going to fall under magical protection for possibly all eternity, shouldn't we make sure they've got the right picture to protect? One which has _all_ the Charmed Ones? Incase oh—I don't know let's say one of our photos accidentally gets destroyed or mysteriously vanishes…..hmm?"

Comprehension finally dawned upon Piper.

Smiling knowingly, Phoebe idly scrolled through Paige's images. "Besides, a photo of three of us might be charmed, but four? Classic!"

Except it would be a big fat lie when the kids ask Aunt Paige about Aunt Prue…

"And…..admit it Piper. You're not the only one who secretly fantasizes about Prue."

"E-Excuse me?" She was definitely sure she didn't secretly harbor any sort of fantasies towards her oldest sister.

"Prue's return. Four of us together."

"Oh." Piper could feel her face burn.

Phoebe sighed longingly, wandering into a daydream. "Some evil threat which needs the Power of Four instead of Three…"

The only evil threat imaginable of that magnitude would be going against the Source, Triad and Titans at the same time. Not something she could ever look forward to in order to see Prue again.

"A spell or potion backfires one day and…..brings Prue back."

Sadly, just like they couldn't encounter the demon of cleanliness or housekeeping, resurrection can never be an accident. Especially not for good guys.

"Or with Leo a mortal, the Elders decide to send the Charmed Ones a new whitelighter. And it turns out to be our big sister."

After what the high and mighty Elders put this family through, Piper could fantasize Prue shouting, ' _Screw you all!'_ and clipping her wings.

"And maybe if Andy is made a whitelighter too, he and Prue could get together and have little whitelighter kids. Live happily ever after."

"Uh-huh." Happily ever after fairytale beliefs of Phoebe's only led to her rolling her eyes. But she decided not to rain on Phoebe's parade.

With a resigned sigh, Phoebe rested her chin on top of Chris's head, who appeared fascinated by the slideshow of family pictures on her laptop. "Or we do a love spell which makes Odin fall for Grams."

That effectively stunned even Piper's thoughts into silence.

"What?" Phoebe chuckled. "Prue would definitely be allowed to visit us. And we could visit her, Mom….Grams, even Andy without the entry requirement of being dead." She titled her head back to look at the ceiling. "So do think about it Grams! Coop and I are both here if you need a hand!"

Piper wrinkled her nose in disgust.

She would rather have the Source as their Gramps than Odin the Elder who lobotomized her husband to trick him into leaving his family for the _Greater Good_.

"Please tell me that was the last one of your Prue returns fantasies."

"That depends," Phoebe replied cryptically.

"On what?"

"If Paige already met her."

Piper frowned at Phoebe seriously. "Why would you think Paige—?"

"She didn't really know Prue enough to move on so…."

Piper's eyes widened, her thoughts completing Phoebe's trailing sentence.

Paige might be able to summon her. Past tense, already done it. Or Prue was allowed to visit her—no correction, already visited and might've told her not to tell them.

"Did she?" Piper's heart raced like a wild horse.

Phoebe shook her head sadly. "Been interrogating her for years. Subtly of course. As far as I can tell, nothing. Five whole years and Prue's still a no-show. Not even to secretly visit the sister she never met."

Disappointment extinguished the little bit of hope which had begun to rise within Piper.

"Those divine rules are just too hard to outsmart." Phoebe sat erect, as if realizing something. "On our side maybe…..but what about the other side? If Prue can flip the pages of the BOS and close Manor doors, then why can't she just astral project to the land of the living for a simple hello? Or…or possess one of us? Possessing is easy. I've done it. And for once I would like to be possessed by someone good."

"Good spirits know possessing isn't fun for the possessor." Piper attempted to lighten the inevitable blow which came with discussing Prue. "If her telekinetic powers could grow in ten years time, then she probably could've astral projected to other planes of existence too."

"But….she died," Phoebe finished tonelessly, her eyes on the laptop screen, but her gaze faraway.

Piper hung her head low. "Yeah."

And what might seem impossible for Halliwell sisters or even sisters in general, both Phoebe and Piper, lapsed into a long silence.

As she waited for Phoebe to break the ice—and was certain Phoebe expected her to do the same—Piper idly observed Chris, who was curiously studying the family photos as the slideshow repeated…..

Piper frowned.

…..with Prue's pictures not showing up at all?

"Why didn't you bring Prue from the past?"

The question was asked so suddenly, it blindsided Piper.

"What?" She blinked rapidly.

"Bring Prue from the past?" repeated Phoebe. "Instead of re-creating the power of three with….well….Grams?"

"She was five. And…uh…" Piper did a quick math in her head, "twelve, in another past. I couldn't risk it."

"Why not? She always acted way older for her age. Unborn me, little Prue and thirty year old you, we not only could've easily created the Power of Three, but vanquished Triad's transparent butts back to the demonic wasteland."

The suggestion bought a grin to Piper's face, but it dissolved when she saw Phoebe wasn't smiling.

She….she really meant it?

"I just….I really thought we'd see her this time." Phoebe forlornly traced circles on Chris head. "Ultimate power. Ultimate battle. Whole family gathered to help…..Mom, Grams, Dad, big and baby Wyatt and Chris…" She smiled when Chris titled his head back, on hearing his name. "I really expected her to swirl in like ghosts do or come from the past…..older than twelve, yelling how we messed that up somehow with all the time traveling." She chuckled, but it was coated with sorrow. "But it umm….…it never happened. One Prue returns fantasy which will always stay a fantasy."

"Phoebe….." Piper began gently, not knowing what to say.

"Good thing technology can make fantasies come true. Not like magic, but atleast it's better than nothing." Phoebe quickly swiped at her eyes. "So umm….anytime now." She took a deep shuddering breath to return her voice to normalcy. "Get that threesome pic of ours and I'll turn it into foursome."

Just like Phoebe respected her wishes earlier, Piper took the cue to hop topics. "Wouldn't you have to make Paige a bit…..younger?"

Phoebe smiled, gazing at a shot of Paige sticking her tongue out at the camera before it blinked to the next picture. "I think she can pull off looking like a high school student."

"Shouldn't….you ask Paige for permission first?" Piper knew she was stalling. Changing the future this way just seemed….unnatural and somehow, illegal.

"Pfft! We're sisters. We don't need permission to use stuff. Well except for boyfriends and husbands—"

"Phoebe, this is different. Remember how you always complained about not having enough pictures with Mom? How would you feel if we photoshopped you with Mom?"

"If photoshopping was the only way to save her pictures, then I'd be okay eventually. And besides, photo manipulation is an art. Paige is an artist and appreciates art."

Piper could only give her a weary look.

Phoebe heaved an irritated sigh. "Okay, _if_ she gets mad, and that's a big _if,_ blame me. You were never here, you never saw me do this. And you never saw me too, Chris. Alright?"

Still mesmerized by the slideshow, Chris nodded distractedly.

Piper again noted the slideshow of photographs were repeating and strangely, Prue still hadn't made an appearance.

"So…are you ever going to get that picture?"

Unwillingly, and still mystified by the lack—or complete absence of Prue, Piper finally gave in. "The only good shot of Prue with us is the one Grams took before she—"

"Yeah okay," Phoebe spoke quickly, obviously not wanting to linger over anymore sad moments. "Bring it."

Piper slowly rose from the sofa. She looked over at the foyer.

The picture lay nestled in darkness, but it was there, on the corner table, right next to the Sitting Room's entrance.

Prue, Piper and Phoebe.

Three sisters.

The original Power of Three.

It felt like a million years ago since she last saw it.

She could recall rushing past it, even flew past it twice, crashed into the table on which it stood, but never really got a chance to sit down and stare at it, trace it with her fingers….remember the past.

Why?

She had no idea.

Well with Phoebe about to perform digital surgery, there would be plenty of chances to gaze, linger and remise about the good old days…..

Piper blinked, suddenly realizing something.

….if only her feet would move toward it.

"Still waiting Piper." Her sibling's reminder washed over her head.

Baffled, Piper looked down and slowly lifted one foot. She lowered it, then inspected the other.

There was nothing stuck underneath. Nothing tugging at her pajamas.

She took a step back and then moved forward.

It worked without a hitch.

"Huh…" Dismissing the strange occurrence as nothing, she again headed for her destination.

Prue.

Well Prue and her sisters…

Piper's eyes widened.

…..And right now one of her sisters seemed to be rooted to the floor. And this time, there was no piece of furniture near her or any critter stuck under her feet to hinder her progress.

"So….how long does it normally take to get something that's just two feet away from you?"

After five failed attempts to move, and six to speak, Piper finally found her voice. "I-I can't."

"Can't what?"

"I-I can't…..get…..the picture?" It sounded beyond preposterous, but her un-cooperating feet told a different story.

"Piper…..really…" Phoebe grumbled. "For the hundredth time, Paige will—"

"This isn't about Paige!" Fear and panic tightened their clutches around her. "W-When I say I _can't_ , I really can't! I can't do it!"

"Okay…." Phoebe let out an exasperated sigh. "If you're having doubts about my photo manipulation skills, then fine, I'll get it done by a professional at work. Either way I need that picture."

"Phoebe! Are you even listening to me?" She squeaked. "I literally cannot make my feet move forward! I'm trying, but I can't! I actually _can't!_!"

The terror in her voice finally captured Phoebe's notice. "So you…..really can't move? You're…frozen?"

"Yes! No…no! I can move! Just not toward the picture!"

"Because…..something or someone is holding you back?" Phoebe probed cautiously.

"I can't go near it! I-I can't even move my eyes to look at it! So _yes_! I assume something or someone doesn't want us to touch or see it!"

"Really?" Phoebe breezed past her into the foyer and easily lifted the picture from its resting place. "Hmm…..so why does this someone or something not mind me touching the picture?" After a cursory scan of the picture, she cast a questioning look her way. "Or moving my eyes to look at it?"

Piper's mouth opened and closed like a fish.

Unless the invisible entity was dumb, Phoebe should've been petrified too.

Phoebe took her hand and laid it on the frame. "And now it doesn't mind you touching it either. Or looking at it."

The ten years younger version of herself and Phoebe stared back at her with happy smiles while Prue….well the living and breathing Phoebe's hand blocked her from view, but she could see her fingers.

"I-I don't understand," Piper stammered, running her hands over the frame. Gingerly, she tried to push away Phoebe's hand so she could get a proper look at Prue.

"I think I do." Phoebe pulled the photograph away, leaving Piper patting thin air. "And it's about time you got a power upgrade."

"To freeze myself?" Piper failed to see the silver lining.

"And if you can accelerate your self too, then you can…..you can move at super-speed!"

"O-Or explode!"

"No, just spontaneously combust."

" _Phoebe_!"

"But once you work out the kinks, everything will be fine." Phoebe assured confidently. She bounced the photograph in her hand and wandered back to the sofa. "And once I work in Missy Paige into this picture, then everything will be better than fine."

Piper was aware that magic had a sick sense of humor. But now she fully suspected magic actually planned new strategies to screw up her life and enjoyed watching everything unfold:

' _Hmm…after eight years of constant struggle and hardship….Piper Halliwell looks happy.' Magic mused. 'We can't have that. But already tried snatching Leo away so many times, made one of her sons evil twice and the other neglected, but she overcame those obstacles too. We need something new….fresh—Oh yes! Let's give her a new power that doesn't make an inkling of sense!'_

Really, what else could explain her power advancement?

She couldn't do something as simple as go and pick up a random photograph and hand it over to Phoebe. But Phoebe could easily stroll over, pick up and see—

A realization slammed into her like the hind legs of a bunyip.

See.

Look.

Sight.

She didn't see any evidence of Prue's existence in the future. That was the whole point of going along with Phoebe's insane plan.

But exactly, when did she _see_ Prue in the present?

The slideshow of pictures Chris had been watching…she never saw Prue.

When Phoebe was going through Prue's pictures on her laptop, it was too fast for even a witch with the power to freeze to catch a glimpse of.

And when she finally got up to fetch the image which contained Prue for Phoebe, she….froze herself?

And after she _did_ get an up-close look, Phoebe's hand obstructed her view?

All in all, tiny seemingly meaningless things, which should be dismissed as her imagination playing tricks on her, if they didn't share one thing in common: Prue or rather the inability to see her.

Combine them together with the knowledge of the future and the verdict came to: whatever that was supposed to happen to Prue's pictures had already happened and….they might never be able to reverse it…..never see her pictures again.

And if she acknowledged the all-consuming dread and sifted in the fact they still couldn't summon Prue after five years, and connected it with the previous verdict, it formed a very chilling picture.

Prue wasn't coming back.

Not as a ghost for a tearful reunion with her sisters, or to secretly meet Paige, nor to meet and hold her nephews and nieces, neither to meet them in the afterli—

_No!_

Piper forced away the overwhelming dark thoughts.

She couldn't, wouldn't, she refused to believe it!

Prue was safe and sound floating around in the afterlife with Mom and Grams.

It was just her photographs.

And she was the only one affected by whatever crazy spell this was.

Phoebe.

She saw Prue.

How else could she see and hold the picture which had Prue?

"Hey Chris, have you seen my glasses? I put them right here….somewhere…..Oh nevermind! Found them!"

Piper buried her head in her hands in despair.

Unless Phoebe had been bitten by a radioactive spider recently, she needed those glasses. And she wasn't wearing them when she proved everything was alright.

"Oh Piper….you'll get the hang of this new power sweetie," Phoebe soothed. "C'mon, sit. And watch me make Paige stand next to Prue without magic. And then give Chris a moustache."

A cry of protest erupted from Chris.

"Alright, alright. Let's give Wyatt that moustache. Happy?"

Chris pouted, but then nodded.

Numbly, Piper realized it didn't matter if Phoebe's photoshop plan succeeded. What's the point of a classic all four Halliwell sisters picture, which they won't be able to see?

All that mattered now was marching up to the attic, finding an entry in the Book of Shadows about a demon who drove its victims insane and fed on their fear and paranoia after playing mind games that involved a loved ones images, then calling Paige and vanquishing the….Barbaras-wannabe.

But first, Phoebe needed to wake up.

"Sure. I'll join you in a minute." Piper craned her neck, to spy on the original P3 photo, but as luck—or rather a cunningly crafted demonic spell would have it, it was laid face-down on the coffee table. "But could….uh…could you do something for me?"

"Hmm?" Phoebe murmured, engrossed in her laptop. "Yeah….Sure."

Piper took a deep breath before voicing her request. "Look at Prue."

Phoebe peered at her over the rim of her glasses, obviously surprised. "Look at Prue?"

"That's what I said. Look at Prue."

"Uh…Okay. Which pic?"

"Doesn't matter. As long as you can tell me you actually saw her."

Puzzlement besieged Phoebe. "But…..I did see her, when I was going through her photos on my laptop. Remember?"

"No. You saw a blur. It was too fast. Y-You didn't—you _couldn't_ have seen anything. Not even Prue."

"Piper, I would've known if I saw a blur instead of…her. Huh…it rhymes."

It wasn't the inability to see Prue that scared Piper more, but the obliviousness to accept something was wrong. Very…very wrong.

"Just…just look again," Piper urged.

Phoebe sighed, rolling her eyes. "Fine, I'm looking at her now, happy?"

Hope swelled within Piper, especially when she managed to scramble towards Phoebe and reached her without her feet freezing. However, on discovering how exactly Phoebe was able to see Prue, Piper wished her feet did freeze.

"You're looking at a peanut-sized thumbnail!" Piper burst. "It's too hard to see anything!"

"Jeez!" Phoebe rubbed her ears. "Calm down!"

Calm?

Piper felt an urge to grab Phoebe's head and force her to look at Prue. Unfortunately, something wasn't letting her fulfill that urge completely. But it did let her grab Phoebe's head.

" _Ouch_! Hey!" Phoebe exclaimed.

"Phoebe, listen to me." Piper tightly grasped her sister's hair. "You need to wake up."

"I _am_ wide awake!" Phoebe cried. "We made a pact twenty-years ago that we would never pull each other's hair! So let _go_!"

Piper hesitantly did. "I just need you to look at Prue. Just one good look. With your glasses. Try to enlarge her pictures! You'll understand what I'm talking about."

"I saw enough of Prue in the last ten minutes to give me eye-strain! And so did you!"

"No, you didn't! Neither did I! W-We never saw Prue. _This_ ….this is what happens to her. This is why there are no photographs of her!" Piper failed to conceal the hysteria from her voice. "We _can't_ see her! We think we did, but we didn't!"

The anger vanished and Phoebe's expression softened into a very familiar one.

Piper couldn't decide what was worst. Phoebe not realizing something was wrong. Or Phoebe giving her the same sympathetic look from earlier, as her analytical mind formed some mumbo-jumbo theory about her not being ready for this.

"This….this really wasn't such a good idea. Paige won't like it." With a few clicks, Phoebe closed every active window. "I say we just do it the old-fashioned way and warn our kids."

Piper had crossed the threshold of desperate by now. "Phoebe…..please…." She slid down to her knees, praying she wouldn't be all alone in this crisis. She wanted…no needed her sister at her side. "I'm on my knees, begging and pleading. _Please_!" She punctuated each word. "Look. At. Prue. Look. At. Your. Sister!"

Her desperate act finally seemed to have gotten through.

But not to Phoebe.

Carefully easing himself down, Chris half-toddled, almost stumbled, but managed to reach the coffee table. His brows knitted as he examined the face-down framed photograph.

The sight made Piper's heart swell and ache at the same time.

Chris extended one chubby hand towards the picture.

And then her maternal instincts kicked in and her mouth opened, ready to unleash a scream to stop him.

"No Chris." Phoebe quickly tugged Chris away before his tiny hand could even make contact. "Don't."

Piper almost collapsed with relief. Without a shadow of doubt, she knew Chris had given Phoebe the jolt required to wake up.

In slow-motion—or that's how it appeared to Piper— Phoebe clicked on the photo gallery then on the folder titled, 'Prue' and then…nothing. She stopped. Her finger hovered over the touch-pad.

With grim fascination, Piper studied Phoebe's facial expression, as it transformed from puzzled to alarm, then something akin to fear.

"I-I can't do it," Phoebe finally whispered. "I….I can't enlarge her photo. A-Any…..photo."

After a long uncomfortable silence, Phoebe suddenly smirked.

Piper couldn't help but wonder if the shock had been too much for her.

"Haha Prue!" Phoebe laughed, looking around the room. "That's very funny. C'mon now, let us use your pictures. I promise, I won't mess up your face or make anything larger. Or smaller."

Not shockingly, Prue didn't magically appear.

The sick sense of certainty that Prue was somehow.….gone again haunted Piper, but she resolutely shoved it away.

Paranoia.

Exactly what the demon wanted.

"C'mon. We're just afraid some incident will destroy all of your pics!" Phoebe chatted casually and simultaneously struggled to discover keyboard shortcuts to enlarge the digital pictures. "We're getting loads of grandkids and they would want to know what their great grand Aunt Prue looked like."

Piper's eyes widened when she noticed her sister's other hand sneakily tip-toeing toward the picture that had been lying flat on its face all this time.

For one glorious moment, Piper actually believed it would work.

It didn't.

Gritting her teeth, Phoebe tried again, and again, using both hands, then even her feet. But from her own personal experience, Piper knew it was a lost cause.

"O-Okay, t-this….i-isn't….funny anymore," Phoebe panted. "Let us use your pictures!"

While her sister argued with thin air, Piper silently relived the memories of the past five years from a different angle:

No pictures at the funeral….…..lingering over Prue's possessions, but instantly packing up her pictures without even a first glance at them when Paige was to be moved in…never caught Paige ever flipping through Prue's high school year book or a photo album…..sorting through everyone's belonging, but never touching the box marked 'Prue'….always telling, but never showing Prue to Wyatt or Chris.

Oh God.

Five years.

They actually had not seen her in _five_ years? And never even noticed?

"P-Phoebe, when was the last time you actually saw….?"

Phoebe's pale face confirmed her fears.

"I-It's going to be alright. We'll find this…demon, evil spirit, witch whatever and kill it." She weakly assured. "Then bring him back to life and kill him again. Then repeat the same process."

It was a cue for Phoebe to join her, chime in that everything would be alright.

Phoebe remained motionless, gazing off into space.

"Phoebe?"

Like a woman condemned to death by being burned alive, Phoebe slowly stood up. With Chris tucked in her arms, she made her way toward the playpen and carefully lowered the child into it.

"Phoebe?" Piper called again, frightened more by Phoebe's silence than anything. "Say something."

"I'm not even sure if it's a demon."

"Of course it's a demon!" Piper insisted, ignoring how devoid of emotion Phoebe sounded. "Some some picture-stealing….demon. Or that demon…what's his name? Nomend. He's still out there. We'll vanquish him a-and this spell will wear off."

"No. That's not it Piper. It's….it's not just the pictures." Phoebe looked up to meet Piper's eyes. Piper feared, but vaguely guessed what she would say next. "I…I can't remember what Prue looks like."

Piper Halliwell wasn't insane.

But that didn't stop her mind from theorizing: if magical delusions could be a coping mechanism for her Grams death, according to _Doctor Alaster_ , a psychiatrist at _Halliwell Hospital_ , then the other way around could work also?

Especially to cope with _this_ situation?

Of course her theory crumbled when another oversight she missed was revealed.

Doctor Alaster aka Source of all Evil, never could arrange a visit from her best friend and former mental buddy, Prue.


	2. Halliwell Ever After

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I just wanted to clarify it's not going to be just about Prue's pictures. There were other strange things about Prue on the show besides her pictures which I just couldn't ignore since they're all basically related. This was supposed to be one superbly insanely long chapter exploring all those things and much more, but I decided to split it and post the first part which has been finished for months. It's long enough to hopefully make up for the long wait and any future delays to updates :-)
> 
> Another IMPORTANT Note: I know traditionally when people click on the next chapter, they expect to see a continuation of where the previous chapter left off. I had to break this tradition for this and the next chapter because it makes story-telling easier. So even if this chapter seems completely different from the last, it's just as important. Maybe even more.
> 
> Timeline: By now, I'm sure you've all watched Forever Charmed and even read rewrites and tried to rewrite that episode too by now :-p This chapter is set a bit after the group-hugging scene.

Paige Matthews Halliwell.

Paige Matthews Michell.

Paige Matthews Michell Halliwell?

Meh.

All really _realllly_ long last names and a lifetime to decide them. A long lifetime due to four following reasons:

a) Her brother-in-law not the Angel of Destiny's device anymore to motivate the Charmed Ones into surviving the Ultimate Battle.

b) Her and her two sisters' tarnished reputation for being selfish, egotistical, self-absorbed witches who would abuse rather than use their powers to protect the innocents cleared. Or in the process of being cleared as the news of the Triad's defeat travels across the magical community.

c) A demon named Nomed, which is ironically demon spelled backwards, claiming the balance had been tipped in the favor of good, and evil won't be able to reclaim it until the next generation would be ready to take up the mantle.

d) Piper's accidental trip to 50 years into future revealed a very happy future, complete with an elderly Leo and grandkids.

Even with her dislike for Algebra—shared among both magical and non-magical beings alike—Paige couldn't help but effectively create the following equation with the four reasons.

A+B+C+D = COs Happily Ever After.

Which in turn meant a long life expectancy.

Of course there were mortal inflictions like diseases or the common cold which witches were also prone to. But atleast chances of death due to incretion by fireball instead of house fire, explosion caused by collusion of magical powers and not good old gas leak, darklighter's arrow poisoning instead of food poisoning were drastically reduced.

And if Lord forbid, some mortal tragedy did befall any of them, they would be stubborn enough to cure it with the wave of their hands or chant of a spell.

So their supposed happily ever after was finally here….or as close to what a happily ever after is supposed to be for Charmed witches anyway. Which meant decision on last names could be postponed until further notice.

So for now, just plain old Paige Matthews would do.

And Paige Matthews couldn't stop grinning as her eyes beheld the sight spread before her.

Cookies, doughnuts, bagels, biscuits, muffins, pastries, lollipops, ice cream and much more; all sweet delicious goodies in one place.

And all junk that would probably go straight down a woman's thighs…..butt. Be it witch or mortal.

White-lighters, now they were a whole different story. Their powers, well one of them—orbing more precisely—burned calories.

The complexities of how it worked, Paige didn't ponder upon. As long as it worked and she could gobble down food equal to her nephews and their future versions combined without gaining an extra ounce and help her charges—

Paige stuffed a spoonful of ice cream into her mouth, savoring every bit of the smooth chocolaty taste.

—she was proud and grateful to be a white- _lighter_.

Well actually a half-whitelighter. The other half witch; a half-breed.

Then she was a half-sister. Also a half-aunt and half-sister-in-law.

So, in short, a lot of halves.

Which made her wonder, would her kids be quarter witchlighters?

And supposedly her husband had been a magical being, like let's say a Cupid or Lordy lord forbid, a demon; what exactly would the children be then? Quarter witches and whitelighters and half-cupids or demons?

' _Whoa…..'_ In a haze of brain freeze, the witchlighter suddenly realized something.

Kids.

Her kids.

And she fiercely shook her head of those silly thoughts.

Nope. No children. No kids.

Not yet anyway.

The joys and pains of sisterhood and aunthood were enough at the moment.

Rephrase.

Being an Aunt was a picnic at the park.

Being a sister…..…..well, it would be a bit extreme to say it felt like she had adopted two kids who had lost their only stable parental figure rather than discovered two adult half-sisters who were senior to her. But an alternate reality created by He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named-So-As-Not-To-Ruin-Her-Almost-Perfect-Happily-Ever-After had shown her what would've happened to those two _kids_ had she not been shoved into their lives: La Femme Piper and Unhappy Mrs. Freebie Turner.

And where would she be without them now?

As magic was the reason she discovered sisters, her biological parents, even Henry and her rushed marriage to him, the answers to the question could be:

_First scenario:_ Full-time social worker by day and by night, all alone in her _not_ burned-down apartment, probably unmarried and single, watching some soap opera while gulping down left-over lasagna as she complained how her life wasn't exciting enough to her parakeet, Oscar.

Oscar.

One of the many victims of the Source. May his tiny soul rest in peace.

_Second scenario:_ Not so alone in her apartment….or bed. But who would be the mystery guy under the covers with her? Glenn? Shane? Hmm…..A what-if fantasy reserved for another time perhaps.

_Third and most likely scenario:_ Dead; Killed by Shax, the Source's demonic assassin, thus sharing the same fate as her oldest sister, Prue. But atleast she would've joined Prue, her parents and her Grams in the afterlife—

"Your move Victor."

"I'm aware of that Penny."

"So make your move."

"I'm just trying to decide—"

"Whether to leave and never return?"

" _Mother_!"

"It's alright Patty. I deserved that."

"Well of course you did," Penny Halliwell stated in matter-of-fact tone. "And a lot more."

And Paige probably should've included her birth mother and her other Grams in her inner monologue. But it was hard to even think _may their souls rest in peace_ when they were both a few feet away. And somehow, her second Grams had turned a Tarot reading into a high stakes card game.

"Alright, can this little game between you two end? Before Piper returns?"

"You heard Patty, Victor. Hurry up. Unless you want to ruin Piper's lunch like her fifth birthday."

"Oh if my memory serves right, I think you played a part in that too, Penny."

"And exactly when has your memory ever been reliable? It took you what? Twenty…thirty years to remember what magic was and what your daughters were destined for?"

"Well forgive me for worrying like every other father."

"And a loser. I win again."

"And since you won again, Mom, can this game end now? Please?"

"With my lucky streak? There's not a chance in hell. So again Victor."

"You're unbelievable sometimes, mother."

"Thank you, darling."

Paige knew she should put a stop to all this, citing personal gain as the reason. But since they would forget everything that transpired on their return anyway, would there be any point?

And telling Penelope Halliwell, what to do and what not to?

Haha…hilarious.

She would have better luck denting the wall by banging her head against it repeatedly. And considering how old the Manor was, it just might work.

Her idle gaze met Patty's tired one and Paige warily offered a sympathetic smile. She instinctively guessed the three words that were at the forefront of Patty's mind right now.

Stubborn family members.

After realizing hovering over her mother and husband would be of no use, a defeated Patty approached the table where Paige was seated.

"How long does it take for _Ask Phoebe_ to answer a letter?" Patty idly picked up the Bay Mirror, lounged on one of the chairs. "Really need advice on those two."

"For strangers, two to three weeks, even months depending on demonic threats," Paige replied helpfully. "For family, Phoebe's all-knowing wisdom is available 24/7, whether we want it or not," she concluded with a grumble. "But my advice." She stuck her thumb in the direction of Grams and her…sisters' father before lowering her voice to a whisper. "Let 'em go at it. It's entertaining."

"I heard that Paige."

Paige only made a face at Penny's revelation and continued indulging in ice creamy goodness. "Oh…uh…Ice cream?" She sheepishly offered Patty.

"No thanks." Patty chuckled and took a seat beside her. "So….Phoebe is this famous advice columnist and Piper runs a popular club called _P3_ ….." The twinkle in her mother's eyes didn't go unnoticed. "And you—"

"Guide and protect good witches and future whitelighters," Paige interrupted, with a strained smile.

But since being a whitelighter or a Charmed One didn't actually pay, the words _popular_ and _famous_ when referred to her sisters' non-magical profession by her mother made her insecure mouth run free.

"But I used to be an assistant social worker. Then kind of got promoted because of helping this woman, Caroline. And because I used magic, that was personal gain so I kinda had to quit. Only to be a full-time witch. Then I tried different temp jobs before certain circumstances landed me the position of Headmistresses of Magic School, but demons came shut that down so that career went down and then briefly wanted to be a cop, but the annoying jingling in my head wouldn't stop—and I'm rambling."

Paige ended the recap of her professional history in one breath.

"Nothing to be ashamed off." Patty dismissed, looking highly amused. "Halliwell family trait. I ramble too."

"No, you don't." It was hard to imagine she even stuttered during her short-lived life. The way she spoke….so assertive and confident.

"I do. Just ask your Grams or Dad over there." The inevitable realization came too late. "Oh. Actually Piper and Phoebe's father and not yours, because Sam is your—or going to be—"

"It's okay," Paige assured the past version of Patty, unable to keep the smile off her lips. "Happens with time travel."

Patty composed herself in an instant. "But you see? I do indeed ramble."

"Well _that_ is the most coherent ramble I've ever heard."

Patty grinned widely, reminding Paige so much of Phoebe's contagious grin.

If there ever was a DNA test required to prove who Patty's real daughters were, then she and Piper would be the ones taking it. For the life of her, she could never understand why Phoebe always insisted Prue resembled their mother.

But then again, who was she to judge?

The first and the last time she saw Prue up-close was when the past version of her rode away in a Harley with some guy's helmet blocking her face.

And as a white dog.

Also all those times she had frequented P3 before knowing about magic, it had always been Prue's back walking away; always in a hurry to go somewhere. Like a White Rabbit or err….white dog to the Mad Hatter's tea party. And so many times, she had been tempted to follow her. But the fear of falling down an endless black hole always held her back.

" _What's the hurry?"_ She had always wanted to ask the hectic raven-haired woman. " _Where are you going?"_

Paige sighed wistfully, rotating the spoon like a drill into the ice cream.

Too late for that.

The sensation of being watched drew her out of her contemplations. "What?" Paige asked self-consciously as her mother kept staring at her, flustered yet secretly enjoying the attention at the same time.

"You wouldn't happen to be my Aunt Janice in your past life?" Patty curiously studied her. "You really look like her."

"So I've been told." By Allen Halliwell himself, Penny's first husband, thus making him her Gramps. "But no. Umm….I think my past life's identity should…stay in the past."

"Piper used to be my grandmother." Patty disclosed unexpectedly. "And now she's my daughter."

"Evil Enchantress," Paige blurted, not even giving herself the chance to fully recover from the shock. "Heirless. Childless. Not even related to this family. And not deeply disturbing enough to put off having kids forever." She then quickly hedged. "Oh n-not that having you guys as my kids someday isn't a bad thing….it's just…it's…it's—oh okay it's too friggin disturbing," she finally confessed.

"You don't have to worry," Patty assured, her eyes dancing with mirth. "If we ever choose to be reborn, it'll be as strangers or some great-great descendant. Right mother?"

"Oh you bet," Penny concurred vehemently. "I'd rather stay dead than call Victor here Grandpa."

"What's the matter Penny?" Victor seemed delighted. "Afraid you'll actually like me as your Grandpa?"

"Just shut up and deal."

Patty sighed wearily.

Paige forced her mind to replace traumatizing thoughts of giving birth to her mother, grandmother…..or even her sister if that was possible. Unfortunately, she got depressing ones instead. And unluckily, her facial features seemed to express them because Patty immediately noticed.

"Paige, what's the matter?"

She tried to summon a smile, but it faltered. "Nothing." And she eventually succumbed to her emotions. "It's just that…..believe it or not, this is the first real conversation I've had with you. But….where is this conversation going?"

"What do you mean?"

"After Piper's _Ultimate_ Halliwell family feast to celebrate the end of the Ultimate Battle, you'll have to go home and…..forget everything." The moroseness wasn't well concealed from her voice. "Time travel does what memory dust can't, complete and total forgetfulness."

Patty slowly nodded, looking solemn as well. "That maybe true. Memories do get erased, when time is reversed or someone changes the past."

Paige sighed. She had absolutely no memory of the Manor exploding or dying. To her, it would be like it never happened.

Just like this conversation to Patty.

"But we're not doing any of those. We'll just be returning to our rightful time periods. So…..who knows? There's a chance emotions attached to our erased memories, they'll linger. Sometimes, I'll feel happy, but can't remember why…." Patty reached out and brushed Paige's dark curls, a wistful smile gracing her lips. "Or sad….."

Paige didn't need to be a telepath or an empath to know the person who could make her feel this sad.

"Patty's right, you know." Penny spoke up, her eyes on the game, but ears pretty much on their conversation. "I might not be able to remember why I'm happy. But the feeling of Victor losing by my hand will stay with me until the day I die. Perhaps even forever."

Patty rolled her eyes.

Paige bit her lip to stifle a giggle.

She could live with those theories. Especially since there was evidence of almost similar cases:

First case involved the Elders erasing Leo's memories to make him choose between Greater Good and his family. In the end, he remembered Piper and fell from grace.

Second case involved Cleaners erasing Wyatt for bringing a dragon to life. Despite the lousy clean job—she, her sisters and Leo unable to remember the previous day's events while the rest of the world remembered everything except the flying reptile in the sky—they all felt something was off. And Piper being a mother felt more and did unconscious things like mothering them.

Not that Paige ever minded Piper's mothering. That was the only way her oldest living sister expressed affection towards a half-sister she discovered right after the death of her big sister who meant the world to her.

And actions do speak louder than words. And also reflect one's intentions

So it was all good.

From Piper performing mundane tasks never asked of her, like laundry and tidying her room to fulfilling special requests, like cooking dinner for her dates or turning her and Henry's engagement party into their wedding or claiming her soul and almost leading her into the afterlife…

….

And perhaps it was time to focus on something else. Something like—

"Oh and then there's Phoebe."

—Like Phoebe. Her other big sister.

Phoebe, the sister who would shower so much love and affection on people known as family, that an umbrella would be needed.

Wait.

"Excuse me?" Paige questioned Penny. "Phoebe?"

"She visited the future, didn't she?"

The never-in-a-million-years expected question caught her by…..shock.

"I have no idea what you're talking about. Not a clue." Paige viciously dug into the ice cream carton. Perhaps if she dug deep enough, Grams might drop the topic or somehow she could get sucked into Ice Cream Land and avoid it all together.

"Oh please!" Penny patronized. "Keeping secrets isn't one of Phoebe's strong suits. And it seems like lying isn't yours."

Paige chuckled nervously and twirled a strand of her hair. "Umm….How….how much do you know?"

"Every God forsaken detail. Almost gave me an early heart attack."

"Really? That's….weird."

Especially for Phoebe dropping something like that upon Grams, who actually _died_ from a heart attack.

"I wouldn't exactly describe it as weird." Penny's tone was berating.

"Yeah…sorry. More like terrible….horrible," Paige amended. "Modern day witch trails? People in hiding, panic and hysteria all around? And all because Phoebe used her powers to kill a murderer who got away due to a loophole in the justice system? It's still so hard to believe."

The only weird part would be Piper having a little girl who was either Wyatt or Chris right now. And that Prue was still alive and kicking.

How could so much change in such a short time?

She had no idea.

And judging by the shell-shocked expression on the faces of Penny, Patty and even Victor, they clearly had no idea either.

About anything.

Oops.

"Oh. Oh….Y-You meant little Phoebe! Little Phoebe visiting the future. Visiting us?" Paige peeked into the ice cream carton, desperately praying the portal to Ice Cream Land became a reality. "Yeah…she was a bundle of joy. Great to have."

She fully expected Chris to pop out of nowhere and yell, _future consequences_!

Of course, he didn't pop out of nowhere, but orbed in from somewhere. And he didn't yell, but hastily inquired:

"Are there any burdock roots left?"

Straight to the point and completely oblivious to the extra tense situation in the room.

Lucky son of a—Piper.

"Can't find any in the kitchen." He rummaged through the cabinets, drawers, seemingly expecting to discover a secret stash of potion ingredients growing in the furniture. "Aunt Paige?"

"If it's not in the kitchen then it's at Phoebe's condo." She was surprised at how calm and collected her voice sounded. "If it's not there, then it must be at the place everyone calls store." _'And if you don't mind, telekinetically toss me out of the window on your way out.'_

"Okay, thanks." Not even a flicker of a smile at her quip. He was a man on a mission and nothing could distract him from achieving his goal.

Whatever it was this time.

Paige blinked.

This time?

No, there shouldn't be a _this_ or any other time. Everything was solved and wrapped up _that_ time.

So, why was he acting so very eerily familiar? Ghostly familiar? Past-life familiar? Reborn, receiving memories of alternate-life familiar? Or should it now be called blurred-into-baby-Chris-after-fading-away familiar?

Before Paige's head could concoct more wild theories, the-not-so mysterious whitelighter from the future left in a flurry of orbs, leaving her to deal with the other sticky problem she had gotten herself into.

"So…" Paige went for the ignore-and-continue-as-normal approach, "what was it about little Phoebe and the future you were saying?"

"Well…." Penny blinked rapidly, obviously trying to recover from the bombshell of information. She slowly placed a hand over her heart.

Panic coursed through her veins as Paige gawked open-mouthed, dreading being the cause of a stroke rather than the actual stroke.

And even if there was a stroke…..she could heal Grams right? Heart attacks could be healed? Couldn't they?

Fortunately, there was no stroke, heart attack, cardiac arrest or anything.

Paige almost fainted with relief when Penny began speaking normally.

"I was going to say she keeps doodling and daydreaming about her alleged Prince Charming she met there."

Paige deadpanned. "Prince Charming?"

"No matter how many memory potions I've used on her, that girl still didn't completely forget."

"Oh really? That's…..interesting…..she….she never forgot him." Paige was pretty sure she felt the beginnings of a heart attack. "Her Prince Charming….."

"You used memory potions on my daughter?" Victor spoke through gritted teeth. "Plural?"

"I've used memory potions on myself," Penny declared with a roll of her eyes. "So don't be overdramatic. Future consequences. I'm pretty sure you're familiar with those two words. Your grandson had sputtered it fifty times in the last hour."

"Back to little Phoebe and her Prince," Paige interjected. "You sure you've tried every potion? What about spells? B-Because why, how could she still remember him?"

Penny shrugged as if it wasn't a big deal. "I suppose it must've been a very pretty face."

Paige actually laughed out loud at that. "A pretty face?"

That's Phoebe for you. Always a sucker for pretty faces. Whether angelic or demonic, or a demonic disguised as an angelic, her dear sister swung both ways.

Penny raised an eyebrow. "But that obviously doesn't matter now. Where is Phoebe by the way?"

"Around here."

Most certainly with a tall, dark and handsome guy named, Coop.

Yup _C-O-O-P_.

And not someone who's name had the same first two alphabets but last two alphabets _L_ and _E_. Because being with the latter guy would be insane. And Phoebe wouldn't do something so crazy, mad, outrageous, shocking, insane…not again.

Hopefully.

"Here where?" Penny's voice floated into her mind's wandering.

"I-In the Manor," she stammered back to reality. "Parlor….living room."

"Doing what?"

Paige's panic increased tenth fold due to Penny's questions. "Is it important?"

"Rule number one in the Halliwell household in my time: never let Phoebe out of your sight."

' _In our time, it's stay out of her business.'_ She swallowed her retort, the fear declining by a few degrees. "She's with her destined true love so in his line of sight."

"Rule number two: Especially with a boy."

Her back still ached the last time Phoebe tackled her for butting into her and Dex's love life. And even if it was a long time ago, her heart still stung over Phoebe's sheer disbelief over her ex-husband being evil.

But as always, the need to protect Phoebe overruled any past incidents or promises to stay the hell away from her business.

However, right now, in a strange turn of events, she found herself needing to protect against not only the unforgettable pretty face of _Prince Charming_ , but Grams as well.

"He's a Cupid."

"Cupid!" Penny scoffed as if she tasted lemon. "If it walks like a man, talks like a man—"

"And part of our family in the future. You know, Uncle Coop?" Yes. _Uncle_ Coop. Not the uncle whose name rhymed with _mole_ , but the uncle whose name rhymed with _poo_ — _soup_.

_Soup_.

So there was nothing to panic about. "Remember what your great grandsons said—"

"Paige." The argument seemed to have worn Penny down. "Humor me and just see what your sister is up to. Put my mind at ease to know where you girls are."

Paige was about to argue, but stopped, realizing something.

This was the Grams of 1970s; a single parent raising three kids. After learning about Prue's death, it would be natural to worry about Phoebe, who, from her perspective was the wild-child, free spirit, trouble-maker, etc.

And Paige had her big mouth to thank for increasing her concern to epic proportions.

"Okay, I'll go check up on my big sister," she announced, but couldn't help herself and added under her breath: "Who's probably gonna kick my ass w—"

"Paige!" Penny's hearing was sharp as ever to detect cuss words.

"I'm going, I'm going." Paige hastily stood up and scurried out of the conservatory.

Out to prove everything was fine.

Phoebe was fine. Her sister would suddenly not vanish and end up on the pyre, or do something stupid if a certain tall, dark someone comes back from the dead suddenly, which would ultimately end her up on the pyre.

So there was nothing to fret about. She would run into Phoebe and find her making out in a secluded corner with Coop….or cuddled on the couch watching _Kill it before it Dies_ or…..

Paige entered the parlor.

….alone.

Phoebe sat alone on the sofa, glaring at her laptop as if it insulted her ancestors and descendants at the same time.

All alone, with no Coop in sight.

"Where's Coop?" The question just tumbled out of Paige's tongue.

Without even stirring from her position, Phoebe answered in an emotionless tone. "Gone."

"Gone?" Paige's heart beat accelerated. "Where? Why? How? When?"

"Cupid business," Phoebe replied in the same detached manner, her eyes deadlocked onto the screen.

"B-But…he'll be back? Right?"

Phoebe briefly spared a glance toward the foyer, at the front door. "If I want him too."

"Oh. Okay. And when will you want him too?" Paige knew she had crossed the threshold from curious to outright nosy, but didn't care.

"Probably when Piper gets back and makes the feast she's keeping visitors from past, present and future hostage for," replied her thankfully _not_ single and lonely sister.

"Oh thank God," Paige expressed her relief louder than necessary. "T-That he'll be around. For lunch. You know Piper never liked it when Leo used to orb out inbetween lunches. Oh well….I'll just be going now…."

"Why the sudden concern for Coop?" The harmless, yet unexpected question, halted Paige's fleeing feet.

"Umm…." Paige twiddled with her fingers. "Oh you know. He got easily beaten up and mugged. What's to stop another demon from trying the same thing?" She congratulated herself for making up a convincing lie in a microsecond. "Snatching that ring of his to time travel and alter history?"

"I'm pretty sure that is exactly what he's discussing with his superiors right now."

"To reverse their idiotic decision of making time travel easier for everyone and thing? Including evil?" Paige snorted insolently. "Good luck with that. Hmm….why is it that people who're complete idiots end up having the power to make decisi—"

"And now the real reason for your sudden concern for my future husband?"

Paige blinked.

Either Phoebe regained her empathic powers or Grams was right. Lying wasn't her strong suit. Not since her rebellious teen years.

"Actually it…..was more of Grams' sudden concern….." Paige winced and went for the reveal. "For you."

"Me?" Phoebe's forehead creased as she craned her neck to again peek at the front door before returning to her computer. "Any particular reason behind Grams's worry for me of all people?" Even In her distracted state, she impressively managed to keep track of the conversation.

"You of all people? Phoebe, I'm shocked. She's your grandmother who loves you very very much. Does she need a reason to worry?"

"Hmm…." Phoebe tapped the keys, the liquid crystal glow of the screen casting an eerie reflection in her glasses. "Not unless someone gives her one…."

Paige pressed her lips together tightly, hoping to keep everything bottled inside awhile longer. But the pressure was too much and she blurted. "Okay I might've _accidentally_ given her one reason."

"And that would be…..?"

"Umm….a certain future of yours."

"Which one?"

"Let's see…it's not the one where you're old and bitter and not the one you saw through a Seer…."

An irritated sigh escaped from her sister. "Paige…."

"Things like slip-ups and misunderstandings _will_ happen with travelers from both past and future in the _present_ ," she justified. A thought occurred to her. "Atleast it explains why Grams was so strict with you guys…especially you."

Phoebe removed her spectacles and rubbed her eyes.

Guilty over upsetting three, now four family members, Paige proceeded to make amends.

"But since Piper's been to the future and Wyatt and Chris _are_ from the future, they might've mentioned something so significant like their Aunt's execution, which means it's obviously _not_ going to happen. So why the needless panic? Am I right?"

Chuckling sardonically, Phoebe spoke, "You should try convincing Grams."

The prospect of facing Grams alone wasn't very appealing right now.

"I was kind of hoping you could make a cameo appearance with me too. So she can see what an upstanding, law-abiding granddaughter you are now and not going to do something a psychotic baseball fan would do. So can Mom…..and your Dad…"

"Spectacular. Any other slip-ups I should know about?"

Strangely, Phoebe wasn't mad— or not as mad as Paige imagined. If she had to take a wild guess, it was probably because all of the psychic's negative emotions were focused on the main door. Instead of sneaking a few glances like before, Phoebe was out rightly glaring at it as if it horribly maimed her favorite childhood show.

"Umm…no. That's it." Puzzled and curious by the peculiar habit, Paige finally interrogated her sibling. "Okay, are you…expecting company?" But the more pressing matter was, what did he or she do to Phoebe to deserve such hostility?

"No….." Phoebe looked at the clock above the fireplace. "Too late for that now it seems. Not shockingly like everything else," she muttered under her breath.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

The last time Phoebe had said, _it's too late_ , she had picked up the Grimoire and flamed out with—

"Nothing. Forget it." Exhaling deeply, Phoebe ran her fingers through her hair. "You should….. probably get back before Grams thinks you went AWOL and sends out a search party. Everything is fine here in Phoebeville. Nothing to report."

"Uh-huh…" Paige folded her arms, unconvinced. "I'm having doubts about everything being fine in Phoebeville."

"I rule Phoebeville and I guarantee you, everything is A-okay."

"Then prove it by coming to give that report on Phoebeville to Grams with me."

"Can't." Phoebe retrieved her spectacles and returned to her laptop. "I'm busy."

Paige's eyebrow shot up. "Doing what?"

"Stuff."

"Stuff?" Paige wrinkled her nose. "Please don't tell me you're spending your happily ever after working?"

"No."

The blatant lie made Paige roll her eyes. "Let me rephrase that. Please don't tell me you're spending your happily ever after working instead of with family?"

"There's lunch to spend time with family."

"Normal circumstances yeah. Special circumstances, no. I would definitely count this as extremely special."

"Then call me when this extremely special lunch is ready."

The indifferent replies, the half-lidded intense gaze on the screen, not to mention the not-so-subtle way of ignoring Paige, all symptoms of Phoebe now completely immersed in her work. Unless it was a life-and-death emergency, anyone within centimeters of her would have better luck making an appointment next time.

Paige glowered and would've continued if a possible explanation behind Phoebe's behavior hadn't struck her. "Unless it's family you're avoiding…." She left her sentence hanging in the air, hoping Phoebe would fill in the rest.

"Only because I'm very busy."

"Again what _exactly_ are you busy doing that trumps family?" Paige circled around the sofa, behind Phoebe's back, fully expecting to find one out of a million advice-seeking letters or an elaborately designed wedding dress displayed on screen. Instead, she received an annoyed look from her sister, who had shut the laptop screen before Paige could get even catch a glimpse.

"Nothing you need to worry about."

"Too late for that," Paige echoed Phoebe's previous words. "And there's a time and place for everything and watching freaky X-rated material with mother, grandmother and nephews from both present and future—" She noticed Wuvey's arm sticking out from behind Phoebe's back. "—and Wuvey, _not_ the right time."

"Paige…." Phoebe hissed, each syllable of the name permeating infuriation. She wrenched Wuvey free, and had the bear been alive, Paige certainly could imagine it flailing its arms helplessly as it gasped for air. "Are you aware of the feeling when your little sibling is behind you and not letting you do something important?"

"No. But I think I'm finally starting to understand the feeling when your big sister is hiding something that's bothering her and making up excuses to get rid of her little sister. So c'mon, spill it sis. What's going on?"

Phoebe released her iron-clad grip on Wuvey and delicately placed the stuffed toy on the coffee table. "There's nothing to spill."

Paige still persisted. "My sisterly senses are tingling."

"Sisterly senses?" Phoebe snorted incredulously. "Oh, I seriously doubt that."

"Phoebe c'mon," Paige said seriously, tired of the banter. "What's up?"

"The ceiling apparently, which needs fixing."

"Look, all I know is a few minutes ago, we were all sharing group hugs and laughing—"

"How unrealistically cheesy of us."

Paige chose to ignore the wry remark. "You looked like the happiest woman on this planet. Right now I don't see her. All I see is a….a…..completely different person."

The sooner awareness of the last two words registered, Paige slightly inched away from Phoebe. "Okay…..Shape-shifting demon chick or ghost? Cause it would be a real bummer to vanquish you right now."

Phoebe rolled her eyes. "Even if I was any of those, rest assured I wouldn't do anything to ruin this family reunion. Besides, it would be suicidal to go against the whole Halliwell family."

"Uh-huh….." Paige cautiously shifted around to get a clear view of her possibly or possibly not sister. "Neither confirmed nor denied." She observed loudly, narrowing her eyes suspiciously.

Phoebe leveled her own gaze with her suspicious one, narrowing her eyes to the point that Paige began feeling like the intruder disguised as a sister.

"Why don't you run up to the attic and consult the BOS to see what kind of demon I am and how to vanquish me?"

BOS.

Now who else could catch an abbreviation from her nephews? Not a shape-shifting demon or a ghost that's for sure.

"Oh I don't need to." Paige maintained the façade, holding her ground and stare. "I figured out who you are."

Phoebe leaned against the sofa, cushioning her head on her hands. "And just who am I, Paige?"

"The demon of denial. The only way to vanquish you is for…well…get Phoebe to talk about what's bothering her."

Phoebe shot her a look which said: _good luck with that_ and closed her eyes. "Or you could stop wasting your time looking for problems that don't exist and go enjoy the beginning of what's supposed to be our fairytale ending."

"Ah, I see, our fairytale ending which we believed would be last year before we decided the show must go on?"

"Don't worry. We're off the air for good this time. So go," Phoebe again prodded. "Have fun. Spend time with Henry or something."

"Or something," Paige repeated, mentally shaking her head in disbelief. "But, you know, you're absolutely right. I probably should just stop worrying and go have fun."

"Good." Phoebe neither moved nor opened her eyes.

"Mmm-Hmm. Have to keep up my recent rep about being a selfish witch. So as long as I have my perfect ending, people around me don't matter. And what could be more selfish than ignoring my sister who's obviously distressed by something?"

"Half-sister."

"Ouch." That only fueled Paige's determination to extract the root cause of Phoebe's bitchiness. "So, as I was saying before our little sisterly banter, which Halliwell are you avoiding?"

The murderous glare hurled her way didn't faze her one bit. "Probably the one who's talking to me."

"Matthews," Paige corrected, pointing at herself. "Not legally a Halliwell."

Phoebe exhaled a half-breed of exasperation and annoyance. "Paige…seriously…..go away."

"No, I will not go away!" Paige locked her quirkiness aside and got down to business. "Not when you're obviously, _not_ okay. And if worrying about my _half-sister_ is a crime, then go ahead, call the police and have me arrested."

"Don't tempt me."

"I just don't understand what or who could make you go from extremely happy one second to _this_ in less than a few minutes and why you won't tell me—"

And then it hit her.

A premonition. Not an actual premonition, but an epiphany about Phoebe getting hit with a premonition.

Some extraordinary…..devastating premonition.

But anything tragic or deeply disturbing should be impossible for at least…forever. Piper saw their end. It was happy, it was cozy, it was a house full of grandkids, while old Leo and old Piper played scrabble.

Paige froze.

Old Piper. Old Leo.

Only Piper. Only Leo.

Not Old Phoebe and Old Coop or Old Paige and Old Henry.

And add in Phoebe trying to constantly get rid of her right now.…

"So, that's the big secret, huh?" Always the outspoken one, Paige didn't run around the mill. "We don't have a future."

"Pardon me?" She fully believed Phoebe was feigning confusion.

"Go spend time with Henry Paige, stop wasting your time and have fun. Go spend your happily ever after," Paige quoted. "Or is it only one of us?" She plopped down on the sofa, fully empathizing with how Penny and Patty felt—still must be feeling about their future. "So…how does it happen? Darklighter? Demon? Heart attack? Burned at stake? Garage door?"

After a brief and deathly silence, Phoebe chuckled. Paige couldn't find anything remotely funny about their short-lived future.

"Oh great. So it's something utterly embarrassing?"

"Paige, I guarantee you, we all literally _live_ happily ever after." Each word radiated assurance. "In fact, we live way past our expiration date that eventually our descendants would be forced to have us put down."

Doubts still swirled within Paige. "If that's true, then why is there a depression cloud hovering over your head?"

All traces of humor vanished from Phoebe's face. For a moment, Paige was certain she wouldn't reply and storm off instead. But she did.

"Magic has a sick sense of humor."

Instead of elaborating, she stood up and walked over to the window.

Mystified, Paige followed, taking the spot beside her. She peered at Phoebe, who was staring outside with an unreadable expression and then let her gaze wander over to the two men outside.

"This isn't right."

"With everything I've been through, it's not as bad as it looks, Wyatt."

"Not bad? Dad, you've sacrificed so much for this world….the Elders….for your family…for me and Chris. You deserve better than this. No infact, you deserve the best there is. And I'll personally make sure you get it. How does a Lamborghini sound?"

"Expensive."

"Then a Ferrari?"

"Wyatt…." Leo Wyatt sighed resignedly as he leaned against his precious pick-up truck he never got around to tuning because of the Angel of Destiny's motivational plan for the Charmed Ones. And now because of Wyatt Halliwell, naming ridiculously expensive cars Paige knew she could only afford in their dreams. "All those cars cost atleast a million."

"For the best Dad in the world…" Wyatt pulled out something which resembled a lottery ticket. "It's absolutely free. And no personal gain. I've already taken care of that part. Just think of it as an early birthday gift from me. And Chris too, even though he doesn't know it yet."

"That's really thoughtful of you, son really, but I don't think—"

"You don't have to think. All you need to do is imagine. Imagine yourself, cruising down the street, dropping us off to school, making other kids' Dads jealous and making yourself a hundred times more appealing to their Moms—"

"And your Mom will definitely not appreciate that."

"Oh trust me Dad, she will. And isn't Mom's happiness more important than anything in the whole world? Think of how her eyes will light up when she sees a Porsche in the driveway."

"Wyatt consequences or not, I'm just really…really sorry, but I can't accept this."

"Oh." A heartbroken look overwhelmed the first born son's face.

"With a little fixing, love and care, this truck will be more beautiful than any sports car out there. One I was hoping I could pass on to you and Chris…and then maybe you to your kids…."

Paige swore she caught fear in the Twice-Blessed witch who quickly turned away and cupped his eyes.

"A-Are you alright?"

"Oh. It's just….my heart. It's….swelling."

"Hey drama queen!" A new voice called and Chris walked into Paige and Phoebe's vantage point. "Would you give up trying to convert Dad's ride and give me a hand with the spell? Or do you want to be stuck here forever?"

Wyatt cast a puzzled look his brother's way. "Why are you wasting your time writing a spell?"

The careless attitude annoyed Chris. "How is writing a spell to get us to our time a waste of time?"

"Uncle Coop's ring," Wyatt pointed out the obvious. "It time travels."

"It _love_ travels. _Love_." Chris emphasized as if he had this argument many times before. "No offence, but I really don't feel comfortable love traveling with you."

"Don't feel comfortable love traveling with me?" Wyatt moved in closer, too close for Chris's comfort. "How do you feel now?"

"Cut it out, Wy…." Chris warned, stepping away, only to have Wyatt stalk a second later. "I know what you're trying to do so stop it…" Wyatt's advances only grew bolder. "Stop trying to be creepy, man…." Wyatt actually wrapped his arms around Chris's scrawny frame and pressed him spooningily close against himself. " _WYATT!"_

"Alright! Alright….." Wyatt finally relented and pulled away, but not before ruffling his brown hair to a mess. "But you're still wasting your time. I've been here before. So the spell which returned me should be lying around."

"Oh yes, to deal with your imaginary friend." Chris grudgingly tried to set his hair back to normalcy.

"Atleast mine wasn't a pink flowery fairy princess."

That earned him a well-deserved smack on the arm by his little brother.

Wyatt laughed merrily. "No wonder you still hit like a girl."

"Guys cut it out," Leo warned, though good naturedly.

"Genius…it was a year ago," Chris informed Wyatt. "So the spell won't be just lying around."

"Yeah….but it was in the Book. Mom modified it a bit."

"What?"

"The spell was in the Book."

"It….it wasn't. Not in this time—"

"I'm pretty sure it was Chris." Though Leo didn't elaborate more. Or didn't want to.

Paige might've been busy with her New Zealand charge that day, but Evil Wyatt using his toddler version to get the Book of Shadows for a spell to go to the future was a pretty unforgettable memory.

"So….I-I've been wasting my time trying to come up with the right words…right rhyme and mixing potions in the attic, one which actually blew up in my face and there was a spell to return us to the future all along?"

Wyatt nodded.

"And you knew about it and didn't bother mentioning it until now? Hours later?"

Grinning widely, Wyatt again nodded.

Without any kind of warning, Chris grabbed the garden hose and sprayed his brother.

Paige drew back startled, when the water hit the window, most certainly as a result of someone using their telekinesis to deflect it.

It might've been three or five seconds later that a high-pitched yet familiar female scream erupted from outside.

With the window a recent victim of Chris and Wyatt's little water fight, it was hard to see clearly, but Paige could make out a drenched Piper, her mouth formed into a huge O, fallen groceries at her feet, not to mention a very pale looking Chris and Wyatt.

"M-Mom," Chris balked, dropping the hose.

"He started it," Wyatt provided helpfully.

Paige snorted and glanced over at Phoebe.

She didn't even crack a smile. She furiously closed the curtains instead and stomped back to the sofa.

"Okay….interesting." Paige told the curtain fabric, before turning to Phoebe. "Phoebe? What—"

"Mom is alive, Dad isn't an invisible entity anymore and Grams…." Phoebe trailed off in her bitter rant as if trying to come up with an appropriate choice of words. "She doesn't really make a difference."

"Phoebe!" Paige exclaimed, baffled by the outpour of resentment.

"You know what I mean. It's just too late for that."

"Too late for what?"

"I'm thirty, what do you think?"

' _No, we agreed you would be twenty-seven so I could be twenty-five,'_ Paige kept that thought to herself as she let her brain scramble Phoebe's words. And she finally understood. "Oh."

"Yeah…." Phoebe said knowingly. "Feels like a slap in the face, doesn't it?"

Paige hung her head low in response.

'I, Paige Matthews, hereby solemnly swear to quit alcohol, smoking….habitual lying, drugs…..and be the ideal daughter, high school student, an absolute angel …..starting from tomorrow. Yes tomorrow, Paige will turn a whole new leaf. Today, Paige has a party to attend at Michelle's house.'

Tomorrow finally arrived when her parents were killed and ironically, she fulfilled every hollow promise she had ever made. And while it was good to know her parents were proud of her, the one fact remained the same, no matter what anyone said or did—even a visit to the past.

It was just too late.

Apparently if Paige could guess, since Phoebe was a child, she desired nothing more than to see her mother alive, her father a part of their lives and getting along with her grandmother. And now they were.

Or as close possible.

But it was too late. She was an adult now. The time when she needed them the most was long gone.

With that realization came another one. Patty and Penny. They were actually alive this time. Not ghosts corporealized. It was for the first time the realization really hit home. "They're alive."

"Yeah," Phoebe murmured sourly. "And we'll have to return them so they could die."

"Not everyone," Paige said quietly, referring to Chris.

Either Phoebe didn't hear her or didn't acknowledge it. "I don't know why Piper is stalling the inevitable with her lunch plans."

"Phoebe….." Both her whitelighter and sisterly senses kicked in as Paige slid beside her on the sofa. "As much as I would love to lock Mom and even Grams in the basement and throw away the key, I can't. Okay, I _can_ but won't." She had learnt her lesson from her parents' deaths, twice. "It would be wrong. Plus they'll escape easily and be very angry after that stunt."

"Right…wrong…." Phoebe scoffed.

"And let's not forget that we'll start seeing through our bodies if Mom isn't returned." Paige then realized Patty was pregnant and she groaned. "Or rather I'll start seeing through mine."

"As long as nothing happens to me or Mom, you have absolutely nothing to worry about."

"Uh-huh….." Paige wasn't a least bit comforted by that. "Actually, I'm more worried about the part about getting conceived. Our Mom is happily married to your Dad right now, so unless you're upto splitting up your parents and then making your Mom fall in love with her whitelighter….that's fine. But if I start fading away now, she'd have to skip those parts and jump straight to the producing me part." She shuddered. "And I really don't want to think anymore. You remember how crazy it got just trying to get Chris conceived?"

"Has Piper started lunch yet?"

The sudden subject change caught her off-guard.

Still dazed, Paige trudged over to the window to check on Piper's status. "No…..Still outside giving a piece of her mind to our nephews." She returned to the sofa. "I think they put a mute spell or something because I can't hear a thing."

But she did strangely notice one thing.

Chris.

And Phoebe's sudden evasiveness.

"So as I was saying…..something about something….." Still pondering, Paige resumed her task of cheering up Phoebe. "It's not the end. We'll see them again. We see Grams more than real living people. I know it's not the same as having them in the flesh, but atleast it's something. They'll always be there when we need guidance, or when you get married to Coop. Or when your daughter and my niece has a wiccaning." And Paige just couldn't help herself. "Niece who's going to inherit her mother's eyes and her father's non-manly features. Her father who's going to be Coop, the Cupi—"

"Paige?"

"Yeah?"

"If Cole magically shows up, I won't suddenly leave Coop and shimmer out with him. So cut it out."

"I-I…..I have no idea what you're talking about," Paige lied through mind-numbing shock. "Not a clue."

Phoebe rolled her eyes. "Of course not."

"But assuming I did know what you're talking about…you really meant what you said? Right?"

"Yes."

"The _yes_ covers him coming back as a whitelighter or any other being of light too, right?"

" _Yes_." There was no hesitation in Phoebe's voice. "Even if he saved Piper, I wouldn't be surprised he set the whole thing up."

To say Paige was lost and confused by those words would be an understatement. "What?"

"Thorn demon that put Piper in a coma?" Phoebe hinted.

"No….that…what?"

"Cole helped her out. Helped her….die so Leo could snap out of his Elder created amnesia."

That was news to Paige. "Piper…she never told me that."

"Oh. It…it must've slipped her mind."

"Probably…yeah..."

Just liked it slipped her mind that the water demon she found fascinating killed their mother, or that her first charge, Samuel Wilder, was actually her biological father, or that the upper-level demon, killer of witches named, Belthazor, was actually her ex brother-in-law in his demonic form…and that now he was back. Again.

"You never said anything about this either." Paige couldn't help the feeling of betrayal and a tinge of hurt that slithered in.

"Paige, I just want to forget the fact that there's actually someone else out there watching us that we can't see, hear or feel besides deceased family members, guardian angels, muses and sandmen."

The mere idea of Cole standing right next to her, probably smirking as he listened to them, creeped Paige out to no end.

"He's stuck in the cosmic void. Hopefully forever. So let's leave it at that. I would really like to start my new beginning without any past demons or any other migraines."

No matter how Paige felt at the moment, she knew it was best to let sleeping dogs lie. But she made a mental note to find a way to permanently exorcise Cole after the Halliwell family feast.

Phoebe rubbed at her forehead irritably. "But that obviously is not going to happen."

"Here, let me…..." Paige reached out and placed a hand over her sister's forehead.

The golden healing glow never materialized.

"Huh. I….guess migraines aren't just purely physical." Though she was certain it should've worked just a bit. "You'll have to heal it the old-fashioned way. No ultra-violent rays bathing," she said teasingly, hoping to lighten the mood again. "Give your eyes a rest with lots of sleep."

"I _can't_ sleep!" Phoebe swatted Paige's hand away. "Not until I figure out how to solve this."

"Wait…." Paige was confused. "So you weren't hiding behind work excuse from family? You really were doing something important?"

"Yes."

Now Paige's curiosity heightened to epic proportions. "What is it?"

"I can't tell you."

"Why?" And went higher.

"I just can't."

"Alright fine…" Paige conceded, fully aware of having exceeded her butting-into-sister's affairs quota. "Reader-advice columnist confidentiality. Got it."

"Yeah….Something like that," Phoebe agreed vaguely.

"Okay then….I'll just leave you and call you for dinne—I mean lunch." Paige began to walk away before the proverbial light bulb flashed over her head. She stopped. "But you know, if you can't tell me about the problem, you can atleast tell me how far you are into solving it."

An aggravated sigh escaped Phoebe and she dragged her hand over her face. "Let's just say I have a better chance of resurrecting the Source than solving this…problem."

"With the anti-climatic last Source vanquish—" Paige stopped on receiving a very very deadly glare from Phoebe—a feat she had believed only Piper capable of. Until now. "Wow. That bad?"

" _Yes_." Phoebe grinded her teeth so hard that it was a surprise her jaw didn't snap off. "I have tried every possible thing in this and every other God forsaken plane of existence and there's still _nothing_! _Nothing_ seems to work! Everything just goes wrong! _It doesn't make any sense!_ "

Paige stared silently, floored by the outburst.

Halliwell women were famous for their tempers, but this one stretched a bit too far. Never in all of her five years had she witnessed Phoebe Halliwell so….angry. Not if she wasn't pregnant with Source's demonic spawn. And not for something as simple like her column.

For one-heart stopping moment, Paige fully believed Phoebe would lash out physically at something…if not someone.

"I'm just…." Thankfully, she calmed down and covered her face in her palms. "I'm just getting sick and tired of it."

Paige extra-cautiously approached her. "Like any complicated problem…..in trying to make sense of it…it's…it's always best to go back to the basics." She bestowed her wisdom. "Start from the scratch."

"Scratch…." Phoebe repeated hollowly before she suddenly appeared to rouse from whatever hopelessness and despair she had fallen into. "You're an artist."

"I think the term you're looking for is a genius." Paige brimmed with pride to see hope igniting Phoebe. "I….am a genius."

"No…" Phoebe studied her, scrutinizing her as if seeing her for the first time. "You paint. You draw. Sketch. You can sketch things…people. And it's not a magical ability."

"I can also sing and write haikus." Paige then sighed disappointedly. "But everyone seems to forget that about my character."

"You sketched a very realistic portrait of Devlin. And never even met him."

"Devlin?" Paige rifled through her memories. "You mean the warlock who stole muses?"

"Yes. If you wanted, you can sketch someone without the need to see them? Someone besides a warlock?"

"I guess, I could." The lack of association between Phoebe's problem and her artistic skills baffled her. "It's been…..four and a half years since I even touched a HB pencil to doodle, but yeah, I can probably whip up a demon face—"

"My thoughts were more in the lines of family."

"Really?" The concept of family art always entered her mind, only to slip away due to witchy and whitelighter duties. "Which family members do you have in mind?" And then there was an added problem off demons ruining pictures with fireballs. And while photographs were replaceable, art wasn't.

"Maybe….Grams….Mom….Prue."

"Prue?" Paige repeated, believing she heard wrong.

"Yes. Prue."

Paige groped for the appropriate words to explain what should be a simple complication.

"It's not a problem, is it, Paige?"

"Uh…..when….you say draw someone _without_ looking at them…..Grams, I'm sure I can sketch with my eyes closed. Mom, the only thing I need to worry about is not mixing her up with you since you two really look alike." She expected a denial, with insistence that it was Prue who shared the resemblance, but it never was brought up. "Uh…Prue…yeah, she might be a problem."

Phoebe narrowed her eyes. "Why?"

"I've…I-I've never met her," Paige stammered the obvious, suddenly feeling like a kid on her first day of school. "Or seen her…..atleast, not long enough to memorize every detail." Though just enough to remember she shared a bit of physical resemblance with her…..something only Inspector Cortez mentioned out loud once. "That…that would've been stalker-creepy." Especially since Prue had been stalked and nearly killed by a very mentally disturbed bartender who wanted to take Prue's place. Replace her.

Destiny apparently had another person in mind for that position though. Evidently, magic wasn't the only thing with a sick sense of humor.

"You never met that warlock either."

"I had Melody to help me with that. A muse. Remember?" Paige frowned. If this was Phoebe's way of asking her to do a portrait of Prue, then she decided to save her the trouble. "But, it's really no big deal. I'll just use her photographs as reference—"

"And what if the right photographs aren't there?" interrupted Phoebe. "What then?"

"Then obviously you or Piper would have to help me."

"Right…..of course….." Phoebe muttered, seemingly mad at herself for having missed such a significant detail. "Someone who can describe her. Remember her."

Paige gave her a questioning look. "Unless that's a problem too…?"

"Of course not!" Phoebe's tone was defensive. "Why would it be?"

"Phoebe," Paige said gently, reaching out to squeeze her hand. "It's okay if you don't want to. I'll just let the pictures be my guide, alright? It's not like something is wrong with them."

Phoebe smiled, almost forlornly. "Would be the weirdest thing if there was."

"Yeah….it probably would. But don't worry about Prue. She's….she's in good hands," Paige said with utmost sincerity, hoping it expressed the respect and care she would use to capture her oldest sister's likeness.

"Good," Phoebe murmured, partially satisfied. "Just keep in mind one thing."

"What?"

"Make sure everyone can see her face. Clearly."

"Uh…okay...sure….." Paige scrunched her brows at the odd request. "I will." She then made her own request. "Since you're giving me an excuse to use my rusty art skills, why not go the full distance and have a whole family portrait?" She didn't know why she did what she did next. Curiosity to experiment maybe? To tread into dangerous waters, or maybe to confirm a nagging sensation…. "Including future Chris and—"

"I _don't_ want anyone else!" Phoebe snapped abruptly, before calming herself just as quickly. "Let's just see how you do with Prue first, okay? Then you can move on to everyone else. Like you said before, keep things simple."

"Yeah….alright. Sounds fair."

And strange.

Even stranger.

Chris.

And the anger and hatred towards him.

No. No! It couldn't be anger or hatred. She was reading Phoebe wrong. Very, very wrong.

Phoebe Halliwell loved her nephews. Adored them to pieces. Thinking about Phoebe loathing one of her nephews was akin to Leo and Piper being abusive parents or she and Leo having a secret affair behind Piper's back or Coop really being Cole in disguise.

No. Nope. Never.

She just refused to believe it. It was her imagination seeking excuses to find faults in their happily ever after.

A swirl of blinding lights formed in the room before clearing, leaving Chris standing infront of them. "We have a problem," he announced urgently and right to the point as usual.

Paige's unsuspecting hand, which had been idly resting on Phoebe's, extended for comfort during Prue reminiscing, found itself being crushed by Phoebe's vice like grasp.

"P-Phoebe…. _Phoebe_!" Paige yelped painfully and had no choice but to smack Phoebe's arm before her skin got gouged out.

" _What_?" Phoebe growled.

"What?" Paige repeated incredulously.

Chris looked uncertainly between his two aunts. "Is everything alright?"

Paige nursed her hand, checking for broken bones. "Yeah, everything is…..fine…." She eyed Phoebe, who excellently pretended nothing just went wrong a second ago, making Paige question if the incident really occurred. "You were saying…?"

"I used up all of the herbs and spices Mom uses for cooking," Chris informed, his expression pained. "And now she needs them to make lunch and she already got back from shopping—I just need to borrow some money. I'll pay you back, I promise."

"Dude, I would love to loan you, but…..my purse and other belongings aren't where they're supposed to be," Paige said, keeping a watchful eye on her strange sister. "Which roughly translates to pissed off fairies."

"Oh okay. Aunt Phoebe? What about you? Any spare cash lying around?"

Phoebe didn't answer.

"Phoebe?" Paige called. "Your _nephew_ is asking something."

"No." The reply was as cold as the artic winds of the icy cavern where Titans were imprisoned. "Don't have any." She wouldn't even look at him.

"Uh….She's just upset about….something." She made an excuse for Phoebe's behavior. "Girl stuff."

Chris visibly winced, clearly not wanting to know anymore details. "Oh…okay….umm….Don't sweat it. I'll just ask Grandpa."

"Make it Grams, since Grandpa's money is now hers. I'm betting even his apartment in the city is now hers."

Chris chuckled understandingly. "Got it." And then fled the room.

Paige finally confronted her sister. "Please tell me you were having one of the most horrible premonitions of your life just now." Something which involved Chris massacring the whole family in their sleep…..turning into the Source, blowing up the world….

"Why?" Phoebe asked carelessly.

"Because I'm drawing a blank trying to figure why you would suddenly ignore your nephew's existence. Even disown him from the family portrait."

"I never said family. Just Prue." She pointed out, affronted. "Your imagination did the rest."

Paige shook her head slowly, not believing her ears. "Did he say or do something wrong?"

"What could he possibly do wrong?" The idea even sounded more ridiculous now that it was articulated out loud. "He's been here for what? Three hours? Counting to four now."

Paige didn't want to go there, but Phoebe left her no choice. "Does this have anything to do with him dying?"

Phoebe's jaw clenched. Her whole body visibly stiffened. "What about it? He's happy, healthy and _alive_ , as you can obviously see."

Paige frowned.

Was Phoebe feeling guilty over saying it had been Chris's destiny? Just to come here and warn them about Wyatt and nothing more?

Her words came true when Chris just faded away after he died.

Perhaps suddenly seeing him brought out those old feelings? After all, the last time they had seen adult Chris was…..his last time.

But was it really guilt that almost crushed Paige's hand?

The witchlighter shook off the notion. "Yes, Phoebe, I can see that….but crazy as it may sound, I'm also starting to see more similarities than differences." She grabbed the rare opportunity to discover the answer to the question that had been plaguing her, which surprisingly, no one had brought up, or didn't want to. "The only different thing about him, is his haircut."

"If you're referring to how he knew the direction to Dad's apartment and who Grams was, it doesn't mean anything."

"We saw Piper blur into herself so maybe, just maybe he also—"

"Paige." However, Phoebe was adamant to _not_ see any glimmer of hope. "When future Phoebe died and faded away, did I magically get any memories of her?"

"No, but—"

"Did she merge into me?"

"No."

"Did she _blur_ into my past self?"

"No."

"Are there any more questions?" It was clear that this marked the end of the, _which Chris is it anyway?_ debate.

Paige sighed and slowly shook her head.

"Are you sure? Anything like how we can afford designer clothes and shoes? Why the Warren witch line suddenly has males with active powers or where in the world Magic School suddenly popped out of?"

Paige's fists curled. Her temper flared.

Now Phoebe was being outright mean.

But she managed to restrain herself from saying anything she would regret. In fact, she realized, it could be exactly what Phoebe wanted. She losing her temper, then storming out, leaving Phoebe alone to wallow in guilt over saying something to a possibly different version of her nephew a long time ago.

"I'm sorry."

Phoebe turned her back to her. "You should go."

"C'mon Phoebe…." Paige coaxed, wanting to not start their new beginning by fighting and hopefully help Phoebe deal with her issue later. Very subtly. "Why don't we call it a truce?"

"If it makes you go away, then fine. Truce."

"Have you considered that my going away would mean Grams asking me what you're upto, and since I'm supposedly bad at lying as you're at keeping secrets, wouldn't Grams come here to investigate what you're upto Missy?" Paige blackmailed.

"Not unless you put a convincing glamour, she won't."

"Oh c'mon Scrooge. It's a celebration." Paige bumped her with her hip, playfully. "We kicked evil's ass back to the Stone age. It would take them a decade to recover."

" _We_?" Phoebe said flatly. "We just threw potions which Piper and Grams made."

Paige groaned, her self-esteem popping like a balloon. "Okay, more sort of Piper than _we_ , since we were kind of…..you know, embarrassingly dead after the first round." More embarrassingly for her since she could orb. "Wouldn't have happened if I had orbed. Heck I had the Hollow, I should've super-duper orbed."

Really?

Orbing can burn calories, but not save her and her sisters from explosions?

She felt ripped-off.

"If you're going by that logic, then Piper should've frozen everything or I should've seen how everything would go wrong and done something….differently," Phoebe articulated.

"You're probably right." Paige sighed. "But still…I'm….I don't know….it…it's just a bit strange."

Piper and Phoebe might've needed time to adjust to disappearing and reappearing, but orbing was natural to her as breathing.

Or sneezing.

So why didn't she orb everyone to safety or orb the explosion away?

The more she thought about it. The more it didn't make sense.

"Why didn't I orb?"

"That's a very good question, Paige."

Every single hair, cell, molecule, neurons and protons—everything that was Paige Matthews—froze.

"How exactly did Piper end up being the only survivor?" The new, but entirely familiar voice kept on speaking. "And not you?"

' _No. Friggin. Way.'_

"Especially you, since your power to orb is triggered by fear…panic."

Impossible.

"You easily orbed when Shax attacked you…You orbed out of the car that killed your parents….You even somehow managed to orb into the alternate reality I created and ruined just about everything."

An illusion. A damn good illusion made by Barbas.

"Yet you couldn't orb to save yourself from an explosion?"

Or a nightmare. She was having a nightmare.

"What exactly went wrong here?"

Wrong yes, because this was all wrong.

Because Cole Turner _cannot_ be here asking those questions; because the alternate reality Phoebe had vanquished him; because he was stuck in the cosmic void forever.

So what went wrong?

"Long time no see, Paige." Cole leaned against the doorframe, looking not a day older since croaking his swan song on his birthday. "How have you been?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: If you're as curious, confused and shocked as Paige, then as a writer, I've done my job. But if you've somehow managed to connect the dots and figured out all my plans…..then that's great too :-) Anyways, comments, kudos or both are welcome :-)

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Comments or kudos or both will be deeply appreciated :-)


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